


The Years Between: The Gottingen era

by Georgina_Gena_Green



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-24 01:02:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 63,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30064296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Georgina_Gena_Green/pseuds/Georgina_Gena_Green
Summary: The story begins at the end of "The Years between" but before the epilogue. A Harry Potter/ Severus Snape Story. Spoilers for all the Harry Potter book. Severus is Harry's adopted father.





	1. Prologue

Prologue.  
He had not planned to see Harry off. He had expected them to apparate back to London but after breakfast Harry told him Mr Weasley had decided they would take the train. Harry had not said so explicitly but it was clear that Mr Weasley had realised that Hermione was in no state to apparate.   
So Severus had transformed back into a moth and perched discreetly on a window ledge at Gottingen station. He watched his adopted son, the former Master of the Elder Wand, help Arthur Weasley with the luggage whilst his best friend Ron guided a ghost like Hermione Granger onto the train. Sadden though he was by the loss of her, she had never really been his. She would turn back to her original love and in time he would become just an interesting interlude prior to her marriage.   
It was Harry he watched load the bags on the train, double check the tickets and buy coffee at the stand on the platform. His son’s eyes scoured the station and Severus noticed that his shoulders lost some of their tension when they lighted on the window ledge.   
Potter sipped his coffee, picked up a free newspaper from the stand and jumped on the train. He paused for a moment before slamming the train door, his hand gave a gentle, discreet salute and then he was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1  
Severus finished the text to Harry and pressed send. In the first few months there had been lots of frantic texting as Harry had worked to tie up Severus’ financial affairs in the UK and find an ingenious way to channel the money to Snape‘s account in Germany.  
Mobile phones were wonderful things. He must admit that their lack of magic forced muggles to be incredibly innovative. He stood up, stretched and placed the phone in a metal box and fastened the lid. He had ruined his first mobile by exposing it for too long to magic. Potter was complaining because he was on his third. Severus was unsympathetic, Harry should have known better than to transfigure it!   
Harry had been reluctant to invest in the new technology but Severus had persuaded him that it was the easiest way to keep in touch. He had pointed out that Ginny had been bound to spot a strange owl regularly delivering to the house, a discreetly hidden mobile would not attract attention. But Potter, being the klutz he was, had almost been caught using it and had been forced to flush the first one down the loo! The second one he had transfigured into a book. The third one Potter swore he had safely hidden in a gnome proof box in the garden shed.  
“I’m the only one who goes there,” Harry had explained in his text. “My time with the Dursleys has left me give an interest in gardening. Every time I see a weed I have strange compulsion to pull it out.”  
Severus spent a lot of time imagining Harry in his new home. According to Harry, it was a small cottage with two bedrooms not far from the Burrow. Harry’s email had described it as “having a 3 inch gap under the front door. So cute but colder than Hogwarts in the winter. Two robes are required to eat comfortably in the dinning room. But Ginny loves it although I could do without all the hearts and flowers in the bedroom.”  
He had briefly considered going to the autumn wedding, a moth among the falling leaves would not have been out of place. But in the end, he realised it would not be wise. It was too soon. It would put Harry on edge worrying about him and his own heart was only just recovering from his abrupt separation from Harry and others. Distance and time would make it easier to cope. He needed to make his own new world secure before he ventured back into his past.   
He had enjoyed the memories Harry had had sent him: Weasley’s stuttered best man’s speech and Harry’s uncertain response which grew in confidence. Arthur Weasley speech had been Gryffindor sentimentally at its worse and Severus was delighted he had been able to roll is eyes in private. Severus was forced to admit that Miss Weasley had done Harry proud and her eyes spoke of love, for which he was thankful. Mercifully none of Harry’s memories included Hermione.   
Severus headed for the kitchen to make some coffee wondering what Harry would think of his new home when he visited for the first time next month as part of his auror training. A three week internship at the auror offices in central Gottingen. Maybe Harry would think this two bedroom apartment at the edge of Gottingen overlooking the river cute. He often sat on the balcony with a glass of red wine at the end of the day. Severus had come to love the uncluttered open plan space. The bright, plain white walls were a welcome contrast to Spinners’ end and Hogwarts and that had helped him move forward. He had put no pictures on the walls. Perhaps Harry would help him choose some. One picture of Harry, charmed to look like a stag stood on the cabinet next to his bed.   
It was a warm afternoon so he took his coffee and went to stand on the balcony. He had made it a rule that he should not begin on the red wine until 6pm. The balcony also enabled him to glance down at his office and warehouse on the other side of the river. Harry would be surprised by its size. Indeed he had been surprised by Severus decision to buy the warehouse. Harry had been envisaging a small potions shop in central Gottingen. Something similar to what you might find in Diagon Alley but Severus had quickly realised that was not the future.   
To be fair, a potion’s shop had been his original plan until he had met the estate agent who had sold him the apartment and later arranged for him to rent the warehouse and office space. Severus had been irritated by the man at first, he was loud mouthed and disorganised. He had kept Severus waiting for 15 minutes when he had come to view the apartment. Severus had been taken by the apartment in spite of the man’s blathering. On the way out, the man, Wilhelm Bauer had dropped his mobile phone and the screen had cracked. The man had been distraught, claiming his social life and work would be ruined. Severus had been unsympathetic but as he was interested in the flat he had seized the opportunity to get the man on board and enlist his help in getting the price down. So he had made sympathetic noises, examined the crack and in doing so he had caught his first glimpse of smart phone technology.  
That night in his room in the guest house he had begged use of the kitchen and brewed up a special potion using the emergency potions kit he always carried. Fortunately, he had only needed to make a small rectangle of the sticky substance. The next day he had travelled to the estate agent’s office and persuaded Wilhelm to allow him to put the substance on the glass screen. Severus did not tell him that he had created the substance, instead he claimed that his brother worked for a mobile phone company and that the substance was in the testing phase. Ten minutes later the sticky substance had reduced the crack to a fine line and Wilhelm’s gratitude was overwhelming.  
“It is like magic,” he had declared.   
“No, just a clever potion,” Severus had thought to himself as he had graciously accepted the man’s gratitude and allowed him to show him the phone’s capabilities. Until that point, Severus’ mind had been completely focused on the price of the flat but the demonstration had been a revelation and offered a new business model.   
Within hours of visiting Wilhelm he was swamped by requests from the estate agent’s friends and family and colleagues for the “sticky substance” . Severus was forced to text Harry for an immediate supply of ingredients and proper equipment so he could set up a temporary lab.  
Wilhelm got him a much reduced price for the apartment and they identified a warehouse and office space to begin industrial scale production of the sticky substance which Severus named “miraculum”. Before long, internet sales took off and a number of well know phone companies were expressing an interest.   
Severus put down his book, “The Crimes of Grindelwald: life in the outer crircle” and looked at the clock: 17.50. Another ten minutes and he could have a glass of wine. He put his hands on the balcony railings and gazed out over Gottingen. The problem was, Severus admitted to himself, that he was bored. His first few months had been taken up with survival: finding an apartment, a new source of income, starting the business, hiring employees. All had consumed his energy. The business would continue to consume his time as he sought to refine and develop the new substance and maybe develop variants but he needed an outside interest. For most of his working life, he had been doing two jobs: potions master and Death Eater; Hogwarts Professor and spy for the light; headmaster and spy; headmaster and adopted father of master of the Elder Wand.   
He wandered back to the kitchen and muttered a decorking spell on the bottle of French red. As he did so, his eye was caught by a bread bin on the work surface. He poured a glass of red and eyed the bin cautiously.   
He flicked his wand at the bread bin and it transfigured itself into a small stand alone safe He eyed it suspiously as he opened it. Inside was a small long thin velvet case. Inside it was a wand. Severus was reluctant even to touch it. This powerful gift of protection from his son was he knew a blessing and curse. In this tranquil town it made sense to keep it locked away out of sight so it didn’t attract attention and did not affect his power. However, Severus knew that his mere ownership of the wand had increased his power. He was able to perform complex spells even with his usual wand much more easily that he had done in the past. Keeping it hidden was no long term solution. He had known both previous masters of the Elder Wand. He needed to learn how to control the power that was leaking into him. But there was no Albus Dumbledore here to advise him or Room of Requirement to practice in. He had read all the information available in the public library in Gottingen but most of it was superficial. He needed access to a university library but he had yet to devise a plan which would not draw undue attention to himself and avoided him breaking the law. The latter was crucial to the continued protection of his new identity  
He resealed the safe and transfigured it back to a bread bin. Picking up his glass he headed out to the balcony. On the way, he caught sight of a leaflet brought by owl. He paused and looked down at it. He had been meaning to put it in the waste bin. It was an advert for a wandlore society. It’s red writing and cartoons moving wands irritated Severus unbearably. The society met every two weeks on a Wednesday in the basement of the Egg and Dragon Public House. He picked it up and stared at it critically. It was normally the sort of gathering that he would pay some serious galleons not to attend, but might there be someone there who could help him? Not that he would confide in them openly of course but perhaps there was someone who could give him some guidance or better still access to the university library and facilities. It might be worth a couple of hours of his time finding out.   
He crossed the living room towards the balcony, pausing again in front of the mirror over the fireplace. He had tried removing it but it had been there when he moved in. Someone appeared to have used an unsticking charm. He certainly had the power to blast it off the wall, but he wanted to avoid damaging the paint work. Moreover, catching sight of his new appearance in the mirror was a useful reminder of his new persona. He had largely shunned wizarding society to date but he did not believe he was in danger of being unmasked. He gazed expressionless at his reflection and cursed his subconscious. His looked like a slightly unkempt version of Lucius Malfoy. He had rejected polyjuice potion as a long term aid to his disguise in Gottingen. Prolonged use was not recommended from a health perspective. Instead, he had dyed his hair, lost a little weight and bought some brightly coloured clothes. Contact lenses had changed the colour of his eyes to blue. The clothes had been the greatest sacrifice. He reminded himself of Albus. The disguise was effective enough to survive life in Gottingen provided he did not get tangled up with the aurors who had pronounced him dead. Should he ever return to the UK polyjuice would probably be necessary.  
He raised his glass to his reflection. He would visit the wandlore society next Wednesday. If they were uesless bores he could slip away after an hour or so and no damage done. 

At 8 o clock the following Wednesday evening 1st September he was sipping another glass of red wine (mediocre) in the bar of the Egg and Dragon. He almost didn’t go he had had a busy day at the warehouse working out how they could process a particularly large order from a small firm in Munich, but in the end he decided he needed a distraction from the red letter day in the English wizarding calendar.   
The public house was located in the cellar below a perfectly respectable muggle bank. A steep flight of stairs led to a vaulted oak cellar with a central space and a range of private booths. He had slipped into a booth near the bar so he could observe society members as they purchased their poison for the evening.  
After an hour or so, Severus had decided that the wandlore crowd were a serious disappointment, worse than their flyer had implied. They appeared to have attracted every crank in Gottingen and the surrounding area. There were a group of elderly wizards who had claimed to have fought against (or more likely with) Grindelwald, an earnest young researcher from one of the local newspapers who studied wandlore as a hobby and a group of witches who were clearly looking for husbands. The gathering had been briefly addressed by a wizard on the subject of American wandlore myths. The speaker claimed to be a visiting professor from the USA. In Severus opinion, the only places he was likely to be visiting were the local hostelries  
Severus was about to call it a day when a hand touched his arm. It was a young teenager who he had seen carrying soup from the kitchen a few minutes earlier.   
“Sir, the landlord wondered if you would step into the backroom for a few minutes?”  
Severus nodded hiding his surprise, picking up his cloak he quietly followed the boy through a door at the side of the bar. The door opened on a small corridor leading to an oak panelled private snug with a large fire and a dozen or so chairs. The chairs were arranged in a semi circle around the fire. The occupants were being served by the landlord himself.  
In spite of the message, the landlord ignored him. A wizard dressed in black robes who looked like a younger version of a former minister for Magic Severus knew rose to greet him  
“Good evening, I am Fudge. Fredrick Fudge.”  
Severus bowed politely but said nothing.  
“I and my colleagues work at the universities of Gottingen, Munich and Berlin. We meet once a month, under the cover of that crowd out there to facilitate an exchange of ideas. Hearing about developments in other subjects illuminates own studies and cast light on new avenues to explore.”  
Severus bowed politely again but remained silent remembering a muggle phrase his mother had been fond of, “Beware Greeks bearing gifts.”  
He suspected Fudge was a skilled legilimens as he smiled when the analogy crossed Severus’ mind.  
“Please sit and make yourself comfortable. We do not invite every stranger who visits the bar next door to join us for a drink. But we do encourage Copo here, he gestured to the landlord, to introduce us to those who appear particularly sceptical of the speakers we hire to keep that lot entertained.   
“The gathering next door is a test?”  
“Of course, “ smiled Fudge. “And Copo here noted that you were sporting a particularly sceptical sneer during our visiting USA professor’s speech this evening.” He gestured politely to a seat near the fire.   
Severus hesitated, conscious that this was no group of fools, before seating himself carefully in the vacant chair. He studied them covertly whilst Copo poured him a drink. In different ways their looks and mannerisms reminded him of his Hogwarts colleagues. Next to him was an empty chair but in the seat beyond that was an middle aged woman a little older than Severus, the ramrod posture and carefully arranged hair reminded him strongly of McGonagall, whilst the man to her right was a male version of Sprout down to the stained finger nails. To the right of the male Sprout was a giant sized Flitwick, marked out by the tiny glasses and earnest expression.   
“Now, I would like to ask you about your interest in wandlore, but before that introductions. I am Fredrick Fudge my day job is Registrar at the Berlin muggle university: student enrolment etc. My real job is librarian of the collection of magical books held secretly by the university. “  
“Bingo,” thought Severus occulmency shields to the fore.  
“In my spare time I am writing an up-to-date treatise on wandlore covering recent developments, Grindelwald in Germany and Voldemort in England and other powerful wizards you may have heard of such as Albus Dumbleore.”  
Fudge looked encouragingly at Severus.  
Severus inclined his head. “I am Sebastian Damasco, recently moved here from the UK following the recent war.”  
“A terrible business, “observed Fudge sympathetically. “Much sad loss of life. You’ve probably met my second cousin he used to be Minister for Magic.”  
Fortunately, Severus realised no reply was required.  
Fudge gestured to a younger gentlemen, the oversized Flitwick, on his left to introduce himself.  
“I am Crassus, I work alongside Professor Fudge in both the Registrar’s office and the library, “ said the rotund assistant rubbing his glasses nervously on his robe.  
“Mr Crassus is a mathematician and helps me manage our university funding ”  
“Like many of my muggle predecessors, I am working on the Riemann hypothesis,” explained Crassus.  
Severus nodded intelligently noting that he would need to do some serious research on some muggle academic subjects if he was to appear intelligent. It was unusual in England for wizards to be educated in both disciplines. He remembered Albus commenting that Germany was very different.  
“My colleague Trank,” commented Fudge “Is a Potions Master and a chemist.”  
“Unfortunate. That explains those stained fingers,” thought Severus recognising the name if not the face, occulmeny shields to the fore.  
“And finally, “said Fudge, “This is Professor Ladestock our historian: German Roman history and also German wandlore. She is at the University of Gottigen”  
Profesoor Ladestock gave a stiff nod, which Severus mirrored.  
“I am offended Fredrick,” said a voice behind Severus. “Hardly finally.”  
Severus turned his head. It appeared to be a night for shocks. Behind him was a small blond woman the image of Narcissa Malfoy.  
“Ah Calista, my dear, Always ready to make an entrance.”  
“Where is everyone else Fabula and Coactor never miss a night out!”  
“Wine tasting society,” said Fudge with a disapproving sniff.  
“Trust them not to miss a free drink!”  
Fudge gestured for her to take a seat next to Severus. “Calista is our ancient language specialist. Very useful as many of the texts about wandlore are in ancient Egyptian.”  
Unlike the others, Calista proffered her hand. “Calista Dives specializers in Greek, Latin, sancript and a variety of ancient magical langauges”  
Severus located his manners and shook her hand politely. “Sebasitian Damasco.”  
“So what has encouraged you to join us?” asked Calista before Fudge could recapture the conversation.  
Severus set out his cover story in standard terms. He came from an obscure Scottish wizarding, settlement, he had had a potions shop (not a potions mastery), family killed in war with Voldemort, decided on a major change of scene away from difficult memories. (This was usually enough to prevent inquisitive strangers inquiring further.) To this, he added a life long interest in wandlore sparked further by the Voldemort conflict and the rumours that had emerged in England. He had settled in Gottingen and set up a business. He did not dare use legilmency in this company but he could sense a vague unease emanating from at least one of the group.  
“What’s the name of our company?” inquired Fudge.  
“Mircaculum” replied Severus.  
“Wand related?” asked Calista.   
Severus shook his head. Calista looked as if she would like to question him further but fortunately Fudge intervened.  
“Time is getting on and we were going to hear from Professor Trank this evening.”  
For the next 45 minutes, Severus attempted to mask his growing fascination with Trank’s account of his work and its’ relationship to powerful wands. He outlined his theory that powerful wands changed the chemicals in a wizard’s body thereby effecting their power. Severus, trained potions master though he was, did not understand all the detail of a subject heaped in muggle terminology. He was dying to ask a large number of questions but he limited himself to one.  
“Have you any theories about how a wizard could shield himself from the growing power?”   
Trank looked surprised.   
“My dear Sebastian, most people would ask how to enhance it!”  
Fortunately, Trank did not seem to expect a response after a moment continued.  
“I suppose it would be possible to mitigate its effect by some sort of potion, should an owner wish to do so.”  
He saw Calista glance at him curiously.   
Severus slipped away shortly afterwards thanking Fudge for the evening and accepting an invitation to the next meeting. He sensed that Calista had hoped to speak to him again but he was not in the mood for probing questions. Once he reached his flat, he poured himself a measure of his custom made hangover potion. The red wine had been of acceptable quality but he had sipped a little too much of it to avoid being expected to speak too much. Casting off his outer robe, he headed for bed.   
It was much too soon when his alarm charm sounded: a small bell at the side of his bed rang itself, The bell got larger and larger the longer you stayed in bed. Severus levered himself out before it had reached the size if a handbell.   
Shower and coffee he thought to himself: large coffee and bread and cheese. It was on days like today that he missed the Hogwarts’ breakfast and the house elves that made it. A brisk early walk to his warehouse would be not be without benefits.   
Gottingen was not a busy commuter town, so at 7.30am the street of houses converted into flats was not busy. There was a tired looking woman walking a small dog that growled at Severus suspiciously but apart from that it was deserted. He turned left after the end of the road towards central Gottingen, before turning right again toward the river and his warehouse.   
The warehouse was part of small industrial cluster (estate it would have been called in England) where small and medium sized firms owned storage facilities, distribution centres and workshops. Few customers visited Severus’ warehouse which was a rather boring rectangular brock building. He usually met prospective clients in one of the town’s hotels or restaurants. The industrial estate itself was quiet. An odd worker opening up was about it, many did not begin work until 9.30 or later.   
Severus’ caretaker usually opened up but he was not at the site until 8am so this morning Snape would do it himself. The fresh air and activity was balm to his alcohol stimulated system. He opened the lock with a traditional muggle key and punched in the code to turn off the muggle alarm. Only a handful of his workers were wizards so it made sense to reinforce the business cover by traditional security devices.  
Congratulating himself on remembering the code in his slightly hazy state, he stepped through the internal double fire door and onto the factory floor. He paused, instantly sober, wand in hand. The factory itself was silent, and the main floor was in semi darkness as the shutters remained closed. However, on the floor a few metres from the firedoor lay a body.  



	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2  
It was if the last two years had never happened. Severus slipped straight back into survival mode: his mind and body on full alert. Not trusting his senses, he sent out a general detecting spell to asecertain whether an intruder was still in the building. Satisfied that they were not, Severus quickly warded the building against entry. He paused for a moment to consider his options. The first priority was effective concealement before his staff or the aurors, if who ever had done this had alerted the latter, arrived. He briefly considered the possibility that the appearance of the body was some dreadful coincidence that had nothing to do with him personally and then dismissed it. Someone had very cleverly reactivated the muggle alarms.   
He had bought himself a little time. The icy calm that had once been his trade mark desended on Severus. Devoid of panic, he cast a series of monitoring charms. The man had been a wizard. He had been dead less than 24 hours. He was the victim of the killing curse and floor and the surroundings revealed no signs of a dual which suggested that he had not been killed in the warehouse. So the body had been deliberately planted. Severus wasted no time on contemplating why his warehouse might have been singled out. Instead, he examined the man’s body in great detail, committing his facial features to memory. A through search revealed no identification papers. The only item in his pockets was a key, number 94 with the letters SD on it. Severus pocketed it thoughtfully. He unwarded the main door, transfigured the man into a stone bollard and hovered him outside. The industrial estate was still empty. He added the bollard to a small row that sat between his warehouse and the tyre fitters next door. This, he did with remarkable ease a side effect, he suspected, of the Elder Wand.  
Returning to his office he pulled off his cloak and threw it onto the hat stand. He would proceed with his day as if nothing has happened. If the body had been planted, it was vital he kept to his normal routine and aroused no suspicion.   
The next few hours were a vivid reminder of the war years. Monotonous routine, although no children this time, with an undercurrent of fear. He knew it was silly to be afraid, no Voldemort would come through the door wielding his wand, the worst it would be was an auror with a quill and notebook. He was unconcerned about the person who had killed the corpse in residence. He would simply slip the Elder Wand into his robes when he got home. It was unlikely they would be a match for him. His fear of the aurors was not that he would be wrongly imprisoned for the crime but that his true identity would be uncovered which would throw a spanner in the works of his new life and make things very difficult for Harry.  
Lunchtime. He had spent the morning touring the warehouse floor, talking casually with those involved in the manufacturing process and quietly and earnestly behind closed doors with the few wizards he had employed to develop the product further. He sat at his desk, warded his office door and shrugged off the employer persona he had adopted. Out in the warehouse he was a genial employer, modelling himself on Albus would have been too much but Kingsley he could stomach. The persona helped to distance his new identity from the feared, sarcastic Severus Snape of old. Curbing his tongue when presented with the stupidity of some of his employees was not easy but he did his best.   
He had not felt like food that morning but now he wished he had brought something from home. He could not face a trek into town to the central food stalls that had become a daily habit. But perhaps he had better make the effort, he wanted no sign that anything was amiss. He struggled to his feet and reached for his cloak, wishing once again he had imbibed less wine the previous evening. His hangover potion was effective but not all encompassing.  
He paused at a tentative knock on the door.  
“Mr Damasco?”  
Severus licked his lips  
“Yes?”  
“Mr Mallet and a colleague from the Big Phone company are here to see you”  
Severus relaxed, donned his professional persona and unlocked the door  
“George how nice to see you. I was just heading out for lunch. Would you care to join me?”  
“Sebastian, you’re looking well. Lunch would be wonderful. Dolce, Dolce? This is Frank who has been working with me for an few weeks,” he gestured to a stick shaped,blond twenty something looking appropriately nervous. “Intern, “ he muttered.   
Severus nodded politely.   
George was a short stout chap with the connoisseur’s love of food. It was entirely typical of him to appear unannounced at a suppliers’ office just before lunchtime in the hope of an invitation. Severus did not resent this as much as he might have done on another occasion. Mallet would make a wonderful impartial out of town witness to his carefree attitude during a business lunch.  
“Why not? My treat” laughed Severus tapping him gently on the back. “Lead on.”  
During his years with Voldemort, Severus had learnt that the trick to an effective deception was to be the part you were playing. So during their walk to the centre of town and the three hour lunch at Dolce’s, Severus was whole heartedly the gracious entertaining business man in search of more orders. Dolce’s assisted his performance. It was a modern, light restaurant with colourful tablecloths, cheerful young staff and large sunlight windows. After a detailed discussion about the health of Mr Mallet’s wife and the progress of his children, Severus persuaded him to take a batch of their new screen substance, which in addition to mending any cracked screens, added a unique glitter pattern for children which only appeared when the phone was switched off.  
He parted company with George at his hotel. Mallet was clearly headed for a post lunch nap. Severus picked up the pace and made his way back to the warehouse. He was greeted just inside by Louis, his anxious office manager. He was almost squib like but as a good administrator with an eye for detail he was invaluable. A graduate of Beaubaxtons, Severus had met him during his early days in Gottingen. He has been staying at the same boarding house and had quickly recognised Severus as a fellow wizard.   
“The aurors have been searching the warehouse.”  
Severus paused  
“Are they still here?”  
“No, they left half an hour or so ago,”  
“Did they have a warrant?” demanded Severus  
“Yes it covered all the warehouses on the site.”   
Severus relaxed marginally. He unfastened his cloak and put it over his arm.  
“Did they say what they wanted?”  
The office manager shook his head. “They ran a lot of monitoring spells here and just outside but they found nothing. A crack down on smuggling again, I expect.”  
Severus hid his surprise and relief. So their monitoring spells had not picked up his transfigured bollard. “The power of the Elder Wand,” he thought ruefully.  
“Thank you Louis, I’m sorry work was interrupted”  
“That’s ok Sir. The guys will get us back on schedule.”  
“I am sure they will,” said Severus genially.  
“Was lunch successful?”  
Severus nodded with genuine pleasure, pulling an order form from his cloak and handing it over.   
Louis grinned, “You’re a gifted salesman Sir. I knew that glitter pattern would be a hit. It is great way to get kids to turn their phones off!”  
It in spite of his heavy lunch and his anxiety to do something about the addition bollard outside, Severus was careful to stay to his usual time of 5pm. At 1701, he picked up his cloak, bade Louis goodnight and headed for home. He was careful to stroll casually and use no magic although he was sure that the aurors were not following him. His counter surveillance techniques were too good.   
Once the door to his apartment was closed, he dropped his casual demeanour and sprang into action. “Accio baking bowl.”   
It was a poor substitute for a pensive but it was better than nothing. He put his wand to his temple and extracted the memory of this morning’s events from entering the industrial estate to the creation of the new bollard. His mind involuntarily went to Albus’ advice about it being easier to conduct a clinical examination of a memory when it was no longer in your head.  
He played the events of his arrival at the warehouse three times before focusing in on the corpse itself. He studied the man’s face carefully but he was certain that he had never seen him before. Satisfied that this was not related directly to his previous life, Severus studied the results of the monitoring spells he had cast. Leaving aside the immediate cause of his death, the man had suffered a large number of injuries of a particular type over his life. As a former servant of Voldemort, Severus had no difficulty in recognising some of these. The man had clearly been in with a bad crowd or had done a dangerous job. But who was he?  
Severus exited the memories, he was tempted to pour himself a small glass of red wine but this time he opted for coffee. He stirred it slowly staring at the makeshift pensieve.   
“You could ask Harry,” said a small voice in his head. “You could send him a copy of your memories and ask him to use the auror’s facilities to see if he could track him down. Severus knew from his discussion with Kingsley during his year as headmaster that they had the means of tracking down criminals in Europe.   
Severus banished the idea from his mind. He had promised himself long ago that he would not seek Harry’s assistance should he ever get into trouble.This was the very definition of trouble, particularly as he was almost certainly going to have to dispose of the body in due course. Severus shook himself and put the problem to one side. Before he decided what to do with the body, he wanted to know who this man was. If he wasn’t going to seek Harry’s assistance how was he going to proceed?  
Severus closed his eyes momentarily. He supposed that some habits die hard. The solution was obvious. If he had been a muggle, he would have spotted the solution hours ago. His phone. He whipped it out of his brief case and took the key he had found on the corpse out of his pocket. He typed a detailed description into google linking it with Gottingen and began to search. After about 10 minutes he found one that looked a little similar but with a cauldron key ring. He looked it up. Key of safe deposit box central Gottingen bank. Severus banked their himself but didn’t have a safe deposit box so he had not recognised the key.   
Severus sat back. The key he had found on the body was probably for a bank safe deposit box but maybe not in Gottingen. He tried googling the same thing biut with different German towns. He started with the closest but it was not until he tried Berlin that he hit gold. The Central Bank of Berlin. The key looked an almost perfect match. It was amazing and worrying the range of magical items one could locate on the internet. As they were not recognised as magical, they were often in some bizzare settings.  
As Severus prepared for his visit to Berlin, packing his case, brewing extra polyjuice potion, warning Louis, his office manager, that he would not be at work the next day, he thought sardonically of Harry preparing to break into Gringotts. In his case, there was no risk of his impersonation failing. The real owner of the key was not likely to turn up and he merely wanted to check the contents of a box, he was not attempting to take anything away. His aim was to understand who the guy was in the hope that it would give him an insight into who had placed the corpse in his warehouse and what he should do with the body.  
He took the floo to Berlin. He emerged from the public floos at the railway station and headed for the public toilets where he consumed a dose of polyjuice potion. The Central Bank was quite close to the station, unlike Gringotts it did not have a separate building instead it was located in a branch of the Deutsche bank. There was a regular stream of business through its main entrance. Wizards were directed to a side entrance by means of a trail of illuminated green arrows to which the muggles appeared oblivious. The bank had been damaged during the conflict with Grindelwald and so unlike Gringotts, it was a modern design and the goblins were dressed in sharp blue business suits. Chrome and brightlights were its hallmark rather than oak panels and candles. However, Severus knew enough about the Central Bank to know that appearances were deceptive. It was just as well protected as Gringotts although it was not dragons that lay beneath its floors but enchanted rock that turned to quick sand or crushed or stoned intruders to death.   
“Can I help you?”  
The scowl on the globin’s face suggested that modernisation had not stretched as far as customer service training.  
“I’m here to access my safe deposit box?”  
The goblin studied the key and muttered a few words. Glowing numbers appeared momentarily on the key ring and then disappeared.   
“Safe deposit box 365,” he muttered, entering a note in his ledger. “Come.”  
The goblin slid out from behind the counter and headed for a door to the left of the counters. Severus glided after him.   
The room where the deposit boxes were viewed reminded Severus of an auror‘s interview room: table, two chairs, plain white walls.  
“Wait here,” instructed the goblin.   
Severus sat and tried to appear relaxed. The goblin re-appeared within five minutes which led Severus to conclude that the deposit boxes must be very close. The goblin placed the box, which was the size of a muggle shoebox but made of metal, on the table in front of him. As the the box touched the surface, writing appeared on the table top.   
The Goblin gestured towards the instructions. “Knock on the door when you’ve finished.”  
Severus waited until he heard the door being secured before he examined the box. It was rectangle, metal and locked. He raised it up slightly. It was much lighter than he had expected and Severus wondered whether this would prove to have been a fool’s errand. According to the instructions, he had to place the key on the lock and the box would automatically open. There was a satisfying click and the box sprang open.   
Inside it was a wand, three different wizarding travel cards (passports as Potter insisted on calling them) each with a picture of the man he had found in the warehouse but wearing slightly different disguises and bearing three different names. The travel cards had been issued by Germany, England and Poland. There were also details of the bank accounts in those various names. Severus hands stilled and he stepped back from the box lost in thought. He committed the various names to memory. He would not risk taking anything from the box, he could always access it again if need to be. He closed the box slowly and locked it. After a minute’s pause, he walked to the door and knocked firmly. It sprang open so quickly, that Severus was sure that the goblin had been listening at the door.  
“All finished?” asked the goblin.  
Severus nodded politely and accepted the goblin’s invitation to precede him from the room.   
Within half an hour he was back in his flat in Gottingen. He glanced at the clock, the polyjuice still had ten minutes before it wore off. He put his bag in his bedroom and poured himself a glass of wine. It was only lunch time but he felt he had earned it.  
Severus stepped out onto the balcony. It was much warmer in Gottingen than Berlin. He tossed his cloak onto the spare chair, sipped the red wine appreciatively and closed his eyes. There were only two possible conclusions to be drawn from the safe deposit box: the man had been a crook or a spy. The question was which. If he had been the former Severus might be in danger from the man’s former associates but the authorities might be less anxious to find him, if the latter the authorities would leave no stone unturned to discover what had happened to him. If he been a crook his best course of action was to discreetly dispose of the body a task Severus had performed many times for the Dark Lord. On the other hand, it would be best to arrange for the body of a spy to be discovered by the authorities, preferably at some distance from Severus with clues encouraging them to look further afield.  
Severus spent the next three hours glued to his phone googling all possible contations of the names he had found in the safe desoit box. Of two he found no trace. The third appeared on a business social media platform but belonged to a man who owned a shoe factory in Munich. The photograph on his web page looked nothing like the man in the warehouse or the photo on the travel card. Shortly afterwards, the phone began to go haywire, web pages appearing unbidden and Severus realised he had exposed it to magic for two long. He shut it down and put it in his metal box. If he left it until the morning, the phone would recover.  
Severus opened his eyes and looked out across Gottingen. The down side of his isolation was that he had no resources to call on to discover the identity of the body. He sat for a long time watching the sky turn from blue to grey and darkness begin to creep in.  
Finally he grimaced and reluctantly concluded that he had no choice but to do what he had been trying to avoid doing since tripped over the corpse: he would have to seek Harry’s assistance.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3  
Severus did not send Harry a message straight away. He spent several more hours trying to devise an alternative. He even contemplated breaking into the auror office in Gottingen and trying to use their records, before berating himself as a “budding Gryffindor”. Eventually, he managed to rationalise his decision to seek Harry’s assistance. He had always sworn to himself that he would not involve Harry in any of his problems should they create a potential conflict of interest with Harry’s job. He told himself that he had done nothing wrong except temporarily disguise a corpse. He had not been responsible for the corpse turning up in his warehouse in the first place. It could just have been bad luck he told himself. It might be nothing to do with him personally and his former life. It was a good argument, Severus told himself even if he did not really believe it. The appearance of a body in a warehouse owned by a former Death Eater of Lord Voldemort was unlikely to be a coincidence.   
Severus decided to text rather than phone. He didn’t want to panic Potter.  
“Harry, give me a call when you have a minute.”  
As a result, it was not until early the next morning while Severus was getting ready for work that his mobile phone rang. In the meantime, he had transferred his memories of the travel cards in the safe deposit box to a small bottle. He had been careful to provide no context for the images.  
“Dad? Is everything ok?”  
“Fine, Harry,” lied Severus smoothly. “I just wondered if you could do me a favour.”  
“Of course, anything.”  
“If I send you some details about someone, do you think you could see what the Ministry knows about them?”  
There was a pause.  
“You want me to check the Ministry files?” Harry asked tentatively.  
“If you can do it discreetly.”  
There was another pause.   
“Harry, is there are a problem?”  
“No Dad, of course not. I would be happy to help, its just are you sure everything is ok? You have never asked me to do something like this before.”  
Severus was prepared for this.  
“Sorry Harry I should have explained. This is someone I have run into at work.” Partly true. Tripped over would have been more accurate, Severus admitted to himself.  
“I have come across some information,” which he had when he had broken into the safe deposit box. “Which has caused me a little concern.” Ok a bit of an understatement but why worry the boy?  
To Severus’ relief Harry seem to buy his explanation.  
“Ah, I see, you’re worried about a possible dodgy business associate,” said Harry with relief. “No problem I’ll see what I can do. I’m really pleased you asked.”  
The boy did sound genuinely pleased.   
Severus put his guilt to the back of his mind and reminded himself that he was protecting Harry by preventing his own exposure. A sudden re-emergence of a dead adopted father was the last thing that a newly married Harry needed.  
“Harry be very careful how you check the records. This man seems like trouble and I don’t want you triggering any alarms. In any case, the Ministry may not have anything.”  
“No problem Dad, I’ll be careful. I have to go into the office on Saturday morning this week so I’ll check then. It’ll be really quiet in records.”  
“I will send you my memories by owl, they should be with you later today.”  
Severus often talked to Harry on Sundays. The Potters seemed to visit Mrs Weasley most Sundays for lunch. After lunch, Ginny would often spend a few hours with her parents whilst Harry went home to catch up on his studying for his auror exams. Once back home, Harry usually popped down the garden and gave Severus a quick ring from the shed without fear of interruption. Severus was therefore surprised when no call came from Harry and Sunday afternoon spilled into Sunday evening. At 9pm. Severus concluded that Harry must have been unable to secure the information and would call him next week. He was also slightly irritated: a text confirming a delay would not have taken long to send. However, he didn’t want to send a follow-up query for fear of piquing Harry’s interest further.  
At 10.30 Severus prepared for bed. He was reading book on the properties of different components of wands: different types of woods, feathers, hair strands etc. He had just read a particularly significant passage on dragon heart strings when his doorbell rang. Severus eased himself out of bed planning what he would do if the Gottingen aurors were at the door to discuss the additional bollard on the industrial estate. He eased the door open carefully, wand tucked into the sleeve of his dressing gown.  
Outside the door was a large bright red suitcase. Severus opened the door a little wider and peered at it suspiciously. He eased his wand from his sleeve. An unexpected delivery suggested that he was being visited by those who had left the corpse in his warehouse rather than officialdom. Severus cast a tentative monitoring spell: socks, pants, shirts, trousers and spare robes. Severus retracted his wand slightly considering how best to counter a possible disguising spell  
Before he could decide, there was a sound of hurried footsteps on the stairs and a thud as if someone had fallen over their own feet. At moment later, the door at the top of the staircase flew open. Severus raised his wand and then lowered it again immediately.  
“Dad! I was just paying the taxi man.”  
Of course, who else would affect such a noisy entrance!  
“Harry, what on earth ... why didn’t you let me know you were coming?”  
“Because Dad I was afraid that you would feed me another load of garbage like the last lot you gave me on Friday,” said Harry with a grin.   
His natural caution overtook his surprise. “Bring this monstrosity inside,” Severus said pointing at the case and swept back inside the flat.   
It took Severus a few minutes to get used to the whirlwind that was his son: suitcase skidding across the hall floor, he was engulfed in a large hug. Severus tensed and then relaxed patting the boy’s head gently.  
Harry looked up and grinned. “It is good to see you again, even if you are a slippery so and so.”  
Severus cuffed him generally. “Mind your manners Potter.” He paused and then continued, “It is agreeable to see you as well.”  
Harry grinned widely. “Have you got anything to eat? I haven’t had anything since lunch.”  
Severus rolled his eyes. Teenagers. Then he reminded himself that Harry had turned 20.

Harry ate the last spoonful of omelette with relish and took a deep gulp of red wine. He had taken a good look around the flat while Severus was cooking and had pronounced himself impressed. He loved the balcony although it was too dark to see much but the town lights. He could tell Severus had given considerable thought to his bedroom. Cheerful yellows and golds, large window, huge bed and large red cushions. The open plan kitchen and lounge and dining area were incredibly modern by British wizarding standards.  
Over the impromptu supper, Severus had questioned Harry in depth about his auror training in a way that had not been possible over the phone. He dissected Harry’s recent assessment results: one pass, three merits and one distinction. Harry had taken it in good part including his advice about raising his marks in administration skills (in which he had received a pass.  
“Paper work is a nuisance, “agreed the former Hogwarts headmaster. “But the only way to deal with it is to stay on top of it.”  
Harry sat back on the sofa and closed his eyes. Severus sipped his wine delicately. His son had filled out and become a man. The shoulders seemed wider and the chest a little broader. He would never be tall however but there was a tougher edge to the boy. It could be seen in the confidence of his movements and the turn of his head.  
“You will have to make your bed up, “Severus noted. “I was not expecting you for another week.”  
Harry nodded peacefully happy at being in Severus’ presence again.  
“I’ve really missed you Dad.”   
Severus nodded, “So much so that you brought forward your temporary assignment in Gottingen by a week.”  
“No, that was a result of blind panic after I had accessed those records you requested.”  
Severus raised an eyebrow. “You found some information. I wasn’t sure if the Ministry would have records of many foreign criminal...”  
“He wasn’t a criminal Dad. He was an ex German federal auror. “  
Severus heart sank, “Tell me, “ he instructed quietly.  
“This is classified information,” said Harry “Above my clearance level really.”  
Severus heart sank further.  
“So in exchange, “said Harry his voice displaying a hint of steel, “I want to know what’s really going on.”  
When Severus had finished, he waited for Harry to throw a tantrum or berate him. He did neither he merely looked thoughtful, much calmer than Severus would have expected.  
“I began by checking the criminal records section in the Ministry. Obviously, I found nothing. I was about to give up when I spotted one of the names, “Lubricus”, but he was listed as the arresting officer. ”  
“What offence?”  
“Money laundering. So I accessed the records from our German liaison section.”  
“Surely you do not have access as a trainee?” observed Severus.  
“Well it is possible that Ron created a diversion while I had a quick look,” said Harry with a grin.   
Severus closed his eyes “Did you? ”  
“No, of course not. He has no idea that it had anything to do with you.” said Harry reassuringly. Anyway, I pulled his file and had a quick look. His real name was Lubricus but he had a number of alias including the ones listed in your memory.”  
“So he was on an operation when he was killed,” muttered Severus.  
Harry shook his head.  
“According to the records, he retired last year, took an early pension.”  
“So, he was freelancing on the side to top up his pension,” guessed Severus swirling the wine around the glass.  
Harry nodded “That’s what I thought but I couldn’t find any more information in the Ministry.”  
“No I don’t suppose a retired German auror’s retirement plans would generate much interest.”  
Harry nodded again.   
“Well at least not in England. I bet the Germans know more.”  
Severus closed his eyes again. “You have already taken too many risks.”  
“Undue risks, “pointed out Harry. “I would have been more cautious if I’d known the true story. You should have told me Dad. If I’m taking a risk I need to know what I am getting into.”  
Severus nodded, acknowledging the truth of that statement.   
“I did not want to involve you but I could not think of any other way. I had hoped that by telling you little I could limit your exposure.”  
“I’d rather know the whole truth, Dad,” said Harry gently.   
Severus nodded “Understood. Anyway thank you for your help, I’ve got it from here.”  
Harry looked incredulous. “You have got to be joking. I’m not, leaving Gottingen until we have got this sorted and we know who is targeting you.”  
“Harry.”  
“I mean it Dad, “ said Harry sternly his jaw set in a unfamiliar line. “I couldn’t sleep when I thought you were in danger. And don’t even think of using a memory charm, I know how your mind works!”   
“We will discuss this in the morning, “said Severus. “What time are you due at the auror station?”  
“Not until 2pm. They think I’m arriving at lunch time. “  
“Come, let us sort out your room.”

“You look very smart,” Severus observed. He had expected a yawning, eye rubbing Potter to emerge from his bedroom for breakfast, but instead here was a sharply dressed, tidy haired professional.   
“Wow, that smells good. I don’t often get a cooked breakfast now unless we stay at the Burrow,” added Harry a little forlornly. “Do you do this every morning?”  
Severus cast him a look.  
“You’ve made a special effort for me,” concluded Harry. “I am really grateful, I normally manage a bite of toast as Ginny and I head out the door.”  
“Miss Weasely …. I mean Mrs Potter doesn’t cooked you the full English?” asked Severus innocently.  
Harry threw him a look. “You’ve got to be joking. I suggested it half in jest when we got back from our honeymoon. I think her exact words were: “Cook your own Potter.””  
Severus hid a smile.  
“I am surprised you are in uniform already. I thought you weren’t due at the station until 2pm.”  
“Yeah, I thought I would turn up a couple of hours early. Make a good impression and get a feel of the place.”  
Severus eyes narrowed. “You are to take no risks on my account, “he reiterated as he slid the fried eggs onto the plate.  
Potter looked up wide eyes and innocent smile. “I’m just going to make contact Dad.”  
“That had better be all it is.”  
Potter smiled again. The smile of a hundred mischievous, duplicitous Hogwarts students Severus had known.   
Severus rolled his eyes and reflected how easily one slipped back into former roles.

Severus sipped his coffee and watched Potter polish off his eggs.   
“So if you are aiming to arrive at the auror station at 12 o clock, what are you planning to do with the rest of the morning?”  
“I thought I’d look round Gottingen. Didn’t really get a chance last time, “he paused for a moment remembering past events.   
Severus was careful to remain unperturbed.   
“Perhaps I could walk to work with you for a start and get the lie of the land?”  
Severus shifted slightly in his chair and considered. “There have been so many aurors around the place in the last few days, I don’t suppose one more will attract much attention,” he conceded. 

“Wow, it’s much bigger than I thought it would be, “said Harry profoundly impressed staring at the warehouse, “You must be doing really well, Dad.”  
“Business is ticking over certainly, “ said Severus smugly pulling out his keys.  
“So a lot of people must damage their phones, “said Harry thoughtfully.  
“Yes, but few flush them down the toilet Potter, “said Snape snidely gesturing discreetly to the additional bollard.   
Harry blushed and cast his eye casually over the bollard.  
Severus pushed the door open and gestured for Harry to enter.  
Harry was a most appreciative visitor. He made excited comments about the scale of the production line, he asked interesting questions about the laboratory and laughed at Severus office.  
“What?” demanded Severus as Harry clutched his stomach, bent double with laughter.  
“You look a bit like an untidy Lucius Malfoy,”  
Severus scowled.  
“But your office looks like Severus Snape,” Harry gasped.   
Severus peered around the office in bemusement.   
“Black blinds, black jotter, black leather seat, black rug, dark pictures of stormy windswept landscapes and those stacks of tiny little black drawers. “  
What is the matter with the drawers? They are very handy for paperclips, pens etc.”  
“Yes but they are small and lots of them”  
“So?”  
“They remind me of your buttons.”  
Severus pulled a face. The boy had gone mad!  
“Do not liken me to Lucius, “ Severus warned. “At least I’m not in uniform. Although I must admit these boots looked good.”  
Harry nodded. “Yes I promised myself if I came back here I would buy some stylish footwear to confuse the criminals”  
Servers looked bemused, but Harry gave him no chance for clarification.

“Where did you find him?” asked Harry all business.  
Severus gestured for him to return to the main entrance hall.   
“How was he laid?”  
“I’m not lying down on the floor for you Potter if that is what you are angling for.”  
“We need a pensieve, “muttered Harry pacing round the spot. “Security system?”  
Severus showed him the alarms and locks.   
“No magical wards?”  
“I am trying to keep this place below the radar.”  
Harry looked thoughtful.  
“What time do your workers arrive?”  
“Sometime in the next 15 minutes or so.”  
“I’ll make myself scarce. We don’t want too many questions about how you know me. I’ll take a walk around the area before heading for the auror station.”  
“Behave yourself, “warned Severus.   
Harry grinned. “I’ll be back for supper Dad and it is me who should be saying that to you. I am not the one who found a dead body in their place of work, transfigured it into a bollard and then broke into the Bank of Berlin masquerading as a corpse. “  
Harry paused for a moment before adding “Shades of Gryffindor I would say. “ He slipped out quickly before Severus could explode.  



	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4  
Severus was cooking a chicken curry when Harry arrived back at the flat about 7pm.  
“You are in good time, “observed Serverus. “I thought you might not be here for a couple of hours.”  
Harry’s cloak winged its’ way into his bedroom as its owner sank down on Severus’ sofa and began to pull off his boots.   
“My feet hurt, “moaned Harry. “An hour walking round Gottingen this morning and then one of the aurors took me on a “detailed orientation session” around the city this afternoon. He only allowed a 15 minute break for coffee.” Harry closed his eyes.   
“That smells good,“ he said a minute or so later opening his eyes.  
“It is something that I could keep warm easily if you were late.”  
“To be honest I think Wilhelm had, had enough himself by 6. 30. He seemed keen to get rid of me.”  
“Being put in charge of the on foot orientation was probably punishment for something,” Severus pointed out.  
Harry thought for a moment.   
“You’re probably right. He told me he had been dragged up in front of the head auror, Peck , for failing to get his paperwork in on time and too many absences.”  
“You and Wilhelm are sure to get on well,”said Severus snidely.   
Harry blushed a little and ignored that. He settled back on the sofa and closed his eyes. 

“Dinner is ready, “ Severus shook his shoulder gently.  
Harry struggled to open his eyes.   
“Great, sorry I should have offered to help. Ginny would have killed me if I had just fallen asleep on the sofa while she cooked.”  
“Don’t worry you can wash up Potter. Come and eat, “added Severus gesturing towards the chrome table near the window.   
“So how was your day?” asked Severus after Harry had made substantial inroads into his curry and was looking distinctly brighter.   
“Lots to take in, “said Harry wiping his mouth on the napkin. “I feel like my brain is going to explode. It’s a lot like my first few days on the auror training programme.”  
“Naturally,” intoned Severus reaching for an onion bargee.   
“I never realised you could cook so well,” commented Harry.  
“Well we hardly spent any time away from Hogwarts during our year together,” pointed out Severus.   
“Yeah, I guess if we had made it to the summer holidays, you would have cooked while we were at Spinner’s End.”  
“Mrs Potter does not see the kitchen as her domain?” inquired Severus delicately.  
“Yeah, you would think so wouldn’t you given Mrs Weasley. But no, she expects me to do my share,” explained Harry gloomily.  
“And how is that going?” asked Severus keeping the levity in his voice to an absolute minimum.  
“She bought me a cooking course as a wedding present, “replied Harry mournfully. “She said the stuff I learn’t to cook at the Dursley’s would lead us both to an early grave.”  
Severus failed to repress a grin.   
Harry slapped his hand. “So where did you learn to cook?”  
“My mother,” said Severus. “She saw it as a natural extension of potions.”  
Harry nodded. He put his knife and fork together and streched.   
“Do you have a makeshift pensieve?”  
Severus nodded. “Basic but useable.”  
“I’ll download my memories and you can look at them while I am washing up,” suggested Harry.

After issuing stern warnings about taking care with the newly purchased dinner plates, Severus dived into the swirling memories. He joined Harry in what was clearly a canteen. Severus thought he recognised a couple of the aurors he had met the previous year and studiously avoided during the last few months. As he watched, Harry, who was chatting away to his companion, ordered coffee and then headed for a large circular table near the window at which four other aurors were already seated.  
The first part of the discussion Severus categorised as “Ooh you’re Harry Potter...” There were lots of questions about the defeat of Voldemort which Harry answered patiently for the most part. However, Severus tuned back in when Harry’s companion, Wilhelm, tried to give Harry a bit of a break by changing subject.   
“So, Harry, how big is the auror department at the Ministry of Magic in London?”  
Harry paused for a moment and then said, “There are about 50 of us, I think. We’ve had a lot of change recently. After Voldemort’s defeat, a lot of people retired and they really stepped up recruitment.”  
“Good thing for you, “observed his companion.  
“Absolutely, “said Harry with a grin. “What’s the size of the Gottingen contingent?”  
“About 30,” said an earnest looking man who had been sipping his tea quietly for much of the conversation. “Most are very experienced so we only take at most one new recruit each time.”  
Harry did not waste the opportunity.   
“Don’t any of your aurors want to retire? Quite a few of ours could not wait to put their feet up!”  
“There is not much enthusiasm, “said the earnest young man. “Most prefer to keep going.”  
“So no one retired last year? “ said Harry.  
“Well actulally one did, “ interjected an incredibly tall female auror with bright blue (Severus hoped dyed) hair . “He’d been with us for 40 years.”  
“But he didn’t properly retire Hanna, “ pointed out Wilhelm. “He joined the private security sector. Good pay, more freedom, less rules.”  
“Is he enjoying it?” asked Harry, whom Severus could tell was thinking furiously, trying to keep the conversation going.   
“I don’t know actually. I’ve not seem him in a while, “ admitted Wilhelm.  
“Hi Harry, I’m Fred, “said a chap who looked like he could have played ruby for Germany. “ I saw Lubricus a couple, of weeks ago. He was plenty busy. On some sort of university contract I think. Good guy very competent and experienced.”

The memory faded at this point and Severus exited. Harry was busy drying the pots by hand.   
“Sometimes Potter you seem to forget you are a wizard, “said Severus distractedly his mind on the memory he had just viewed.   
“Well you told me to be careful, “Harry pointed out.  
Severus nodded picking up a second tea towel.  
“So he was a contractor,” mused Severus. “Exactly as we thought.”  
“I’ll put the kettle back on,” said Harry  
Severus nodded.  
“You did well there, “Severus added. “No jumping in with your size tens.”  
Harry grinned. “We’ve been working on developing more subtle interrogation techniques, you know in case we go undercover.”  
Severus nodded and fished out some teabags.  
“You know you’ve developed a few muggle habits yourself, “observed Harry.  
“I have bought a coffee maker,” admitted Severus. “You can sample some at breakfast.”

“So where do we go from here?” asked Harry sipping the hot tea carefully.  
“I think surreptitious disposal of the body is no longer an option,” Severus concluded reluctantly.   
“Agreed. Once they realise he is missing the entire department is going to try to work out what happened.”  
Severus nodded and chewed his lip.   
“But that’s not what bothering you is it?”  
“Your powers of perception have also improved Potter.”  
Harry nodded but said nothing is eyes remained steadily on Severus’ face.  
“It is the reference to the university contract.”  
Harry nodded, “You’re wondering whether it is linked to your meeting at that wand society?”  
Severus nodded.  
“Yeah, it does seem a bit of a coincidence, I’d thought that,” agreed Harry.  
“Attending was a mistake, “said Severus.  
“We don’t know that Dad. We don’t really have any evidence the events are connected.”  
Severus shrugged, “Harry the most likely scenario here is that someone at that event recognised me, my true identity and thought that a safe way to get rid of a body was to plant it in my warehouse and tip the aurors off. They would arrest me assuming the guy had discovered my true identify and I killed him to prevent it being revealed.”  
“Supposition,” said Harry firmly. “Kingsley’s always warning us against that.”  
Severus smiled at the furiously determined look on Harry’s face. His son was anxious to protect him even from criticism from himself.   
“We have spent nearly all the time since you arrived talking about my problems,” observed Severus. “Let’s take a break for a while and sleep on it, “  
Harry who was already yawning widely nodded.   
“Before you fall asleep tell me how you are enjoying married life. I only get snippets over the phone.”  
Harry laughed, “Fine. It takes a bit of getting used to. I thought it would be a bit like the Burrow,”  
“Hoped you mean,” said Severus perceptively.  
“Yeah I guess, but with Ginny working fulltime it’s really busy. She’s really insistent I do my fair share of the clearnng and everything. Which is fine you know, I mean after the Dursleys it’s no problem although Ginny laughs a lot when she sees me to do most of it by hand.”  
“She is enjoying her apprenticeship at Quidditch Today?” inquired Severus sipping his tea.  
“Yes, an enormous amount, she gets to travel a bit to games now and draft the odd article. She meets loads of the players.” Harry said enviously “I must admit I’m really glad she is not at the Prophet.”  
“That would have been more difficult to acclimatise to,” agreed Severus. He paused for a moment putting his cup back on the saucer. “You are glad that that you married when you did?”  
Harry blushed slightly. “Yes, it was the right decision. There seemed no point in waiting after you.., well you know.”  
Severus nodded.  
“In any case”, continued Harry “Sharing with Ron wasn’t a long term option.”  
“Mr Wesley is planning to leave the auror programme?” Severus interjected sharply.  
“What?” asked Harry confused? “Oh no. He’s in it for the long haul like me. No it’s just,”  
Harry paused  
“He getting married, “guessed Severus.   
Harry nodded embrassed.  
“It alright Harry. I knew it would happen. It is for the best. Miss Granger I take it?”  
Harry nodded again looking uncomfortable.  
Severus cast around quickly for a way of changing the subject.  
“How are the rest of the Weasley family?”

They got to bed just before midnight. Breakfast afforded them time for the briefest of chats. Harry was due at the auror department at 9am and Severus was meeting a potential customer. So a discussion on next steps had to wait until the evening.   
This time, it was Harry who was home first. When Severus opened the door, a delicious smell pervaded the hall.   
In the kitchen was a confident Harry Potter engrossed in making a stir fry.  
“Ginny loves these. She had never had one before but I made them all the time at the Durselys because Dudley loved them.”  
Severus peered in to the frying pan. “Chicken and Salmon - an unusual combination.”  
“You’ll love it. Take your cloak off and get us both a drink. How’s’ your day been?”  
“Good on the whole. I think I have secured another customer. My main problem is going to be meeting all the orders. I may need to expand the warehouse or get another one, “ mused Severus. “Assuming I am not in jail,” he added.  
“Don’t worry Dad. I have a plan. Full proof. Let’s me serve up and I will tell you all about it while we eat.”  
In fact Severus did not allow Harry to outline his plan until they had eaten the stir fry and were allowing their stomachs to rest before they tackled the large chocolate cake Severus had purchased. 

“I think we should arrange for the body to be discovered.”  
Severus raised an eyebrow. “Not in its current location I hope. It is a little close to home.”  
“No, of course not. I want to put it in the river.”  
Severus frowned.   
“One step at a time Potter, take it from the top and explain to me exactly what you have in mind.”  
It did not escape Harry’s notice that there would have been a time when Severus would simply have dismissed his ideas or interjected with a plan of his own, a by-product of 12 months plus of auror training he supposed.  
“After I left you yesterday morning, I had a couple of hours to kill before I was due at the station so I had a good walk round that industrial estate of yours. Down by the river there is an old loading dock, disused but still there.”  
“So you’re thinking we should untransfigure our unwanted guest and slide him quietly into the water at the dead of night?”  
“Exactly. It has loads of advantages. We don’t have to transport the body very far. It will wash off any evidence of it being in your warehouse, it will end up downstream probably wash up around Beuren if what I learnt today is true. The aurors may not be able to link it back directly to the industrial estate but they’ll guess the body went in at that point which is why they got the tip off.”  
Severus chewed his lip. “It still links it back to the estate,” he pointed out uneasily.  
“Dad, that tipoff linked it irrevocably to the industrial estate. We need to find a way of linking it to our proposed solution. They can’t prove it was in your warehouse or anyone else’s without evidence.”  
Severus nodded slowly.  
“You still look uneasy dad.”  
Severus raised an eyebrow.  
“More uneasy than I would expect just because we are going to dispose of a body in the water.”  
“I am going to dispose of a body Potter. You are not going to be involved.”

It took Severus a couple of hours to persuade Harry that he should dispose of the body alone. In the end it took a threat to ban Potter from visiting him in Gottingen.  
“I will not put you or your career at risk any more than I have to,” Severus concluded.   
“Take my invisibility cloak with you to cover the body and use the Elder Wand to create a disillusionment charm. No one should be able to disrupt that, “urged Harry.  
Severus took the cloak in the hope of preventing Harry conducting some sort of covert surveillance mission to ensure he was ok. “I am reluctant to use the Elder Wand, but on this occasion it is probably the lesser of two evils.”  
Severus changed into his old black robes before he left, he was uncomfortable with conducting this sort of mission in brighter covered clothing.  
“You look almost like you, “said Harry nostalgically. “You will be careful won’t you Dad?”  
“Extremely, “promised Severus. “If for no other reason that I want to avoid one of your feckless ill-thought out rescue missions.”  
Harry squeezed his hand unoffended. 

Severus carried his cloak and hood until he neared the industrial estate. The sun would set in another hour or so. He and Harry had debated whether to wait until the middle of the night but Severus had argued that early evening would be better. The workers would have left the industrial estate but he could still see what he was doing. Sneaking around in the middle of the night also created suspicion if you were discovered, as Harry knew to his cost.  
There was a small wooded area a few hundred meters from the entrance helping to separate the main parts of Gottingen from the industrial estate. Severus entered and found a spaced amoung the trees that could not be seen from the road. He quickly cast a disillusionment spell on himself. The power of the Elder Wand almost caused him to fall over, he paused before heading back to the road.   
The operation went surprisingly smoothly. As he got close to his warehouse he cast a series of monitoring spells. He detected no one visible or hidden in the immediate vicinity. He took the precaution of draping the invisibility cloak over the bollard before transfiguring it back to a body.   
Severus was glad he had not delayed further, the preservation spells on body were starting to fade and a strong smell was beginning to emanate from the corpse. If he had left it much longer, he would have had a real mess to move. Slowly and carefully he cast a feather light spell and hovered the body through the estate and down towards the river Leine.   
It was an easier task than he had anticpated. He was approaching the river bank when his monitoring spells went off. He froze. Whatever it was was getting closer. He lowered the body slowly to the ground and looked around. Sunset was approaching, through the dusk he saw two figures walking towards him along the river bank  
“Damn.” Severus stood completely still, perhaps they would just pass by.   
As they came closer, Severus saw it was a man and woman, hand in hand.  
“Not aurors at least, “thought Servers wishing they would quicken their pace. The couple however, had their own plans they ambled slowly towards him gazing across the river at the setting sun.   
They were only a few meters away when Severus heard the man speak.  
“Let’s sit down for a while shall we and watch the sunset?”  
“No,” screamed Severus silently. “Tell him you would rather go for a glass of wine.”  
The woman however, had different plans. She sat down obligingly on the grass and rested her head on the man’s shoulder.   
Severus closed his eyes and swore softly.  
It was an hour and a half before they left, by which time Severus’ back was aching from standing still for so long. He would have to beg Potter to perform a memory charm on him when he got home to block out all the inane happy murmurings he had been subjected to.  
He waited until they were out of sight and his monitoring charms were happily silent before he raised the Elder Wand, hovered the body off the floor and slipped it into the water with barely a ripple.   



	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5  
“Where the hell have you been?”  
Severus locked the flat door carefully and propelled his clock towards the coat stand before turning to face an irate Harry Potter.   
“I have been out of my mind with worry.”  
Severus hid a smile.  
“Not used to being the one waiting, whilst others conduct the operation Potter? That’s a failing you are going to have to remedy if you are to rise within the ranks of the aurors.”  
“That’s different, “snapped Harry at once “That’s work. This is family.”  
“Indeed, now you know how the rest of us felt all those years when you were growing up.”  
Harry stepped forward and for a moment Severus thought Harry was going to take a swing at him, but then the boy unclenched his fists.   
“I am sorry Harry but there was nothing I could do about it without blowing my cover.”  
Harry’s shoulders slumped.  
“At least you’re ok.”  
Severus moved forward and draped an arm round his shoulders. “Come on Potter pour me a drink and I’ll tell you all about it.”  
Harry nodded resignedly and headed for the kitchen.

“So, Mr Apprentice Auror, what is our next move?” asked Severus after he had debriefed Harry thoroughly on the events of the evening. He sipped his wine with a greater appreciation than usual this evening.   
“Wait, “said Harry simply. “Do nothing and hope the body turns up. In the meantime do nothing to draw attention to ourselves.”  
“Is this the Harry Potter we all know and love?” inquired Severus in a gently mocking voice.  
“It’s the Harry Potter who is well into his auror training and who has learnt that patience and allowing events to develop are a critical part of the job.”  
Severus nodded approvingly. “Minister Shacklebolt has done a better job at the Ministry than I expected.”  
“If you weren’t pretending to be dead I’d tell him you said that, “replied Harry with a grin.   
“Well if watching and waiting are our next steps, I had better get some sleep before a day at the warehouse.”  
Harry nodded, “Yeah, you’re right, I’m still in the cramming my brain full of stuff stage of this secondment and it won’t help if I am half asleep.”

For the next few days Severus followed Harry’s advice to the letter. He went to work, showed a deep interest in the research undertaken by his staff to adapt the product to screen out magic in the hope of making phones more attractive to the wizarding community. He had an after work drinks with a client who represented a company that supplied special phones to the Italian military. He returned home promptly at 6pm each day and cooked dinner for Harry. He spent the evening listening to Harry’s account of his day with the Gottingen aurors, knowing that he would likely have been bored to tears had it not been his son recounting his new experiences in his first overseas secondment.  
It was on the fourth evening that Harry arrived full of excitement.  
“The body’s washed up near Beuren just as I thought it would.”  
Severus paused his stirring of the beef stew. “You are sure it is ours?”  
“Its not definite, we were only contacted by the Beuren authorities at 5pm but it sounds like it. We are liaising with the Gottingen police department who are doing an analysis of the water current to try to determine where the body entered the river and when.”  
“When you say we?”  
Harry grinned. “Me. My first solo assignment with them.”  
“Well done Harry,” said Severus appreciatively.  
“Nah, nobody else wanted to do it. I thought it might come in today so I was hanging about on the off chance. Stew’s not overcooked is it?”  
“No Harry it will be fine. I applied a statis charm. Get yourself ready and we will eat.”

Severus gave Harry a few minutes to savour his stew.  
“So what’s your thinking on next steps?”  
Harry wiped his mouth on his napkin. “Good stew, “he said appreciatively. “Next steps? Follow standard procedure I guess. Wait for the body to be delivered back to Gottingen, arrange an identification and post mortem. Once he is identified, they’ll be lots of interest, but we will only really be able to get our teeth into an investigation if we can prove it is not a normal death.”  
“How long will that take?” inquired Severus sipping his wine.  
“Usually it can take a week or so. But once the body is back here I can arrange an accidental identification by one of the other aurors. That should put a bomb under the investigation. I’ll bet we’ll get the PM done in 48 hours tops.”  
“I am wondering how far the investigation will have progressed before your secondment ends. “  
“That shouldn’t be a problem. If I am in the middle of a live investigation, the Ministry for Magic will agree an extension to the secondment.”  
“And what about Mrs Potter?” inquired Severus politely.  
Harry gulped slightly and wriggled in his chair “She’ll be ok with it,” he asserted uncertainly.  
“Hmm. I don’t want you to...”  
“Dad, it’s bad enough you being stuck here. There is no way I’m leaving until this is resolved and you’re in the clear.” said Harry firmly.   
Severus looked as if he was about to argue then he caught sight of Harry’s face. “Well it is certainly good having you here,” he admitted.

The following evening Severus had decided on something spicier following the stew. He was putting the finishing touches to a medium strength chilli when Harry burst through the door again in a replay of the previous evening.  
“Food first, “ said Severus before Harry could speak. “Wash your hands.”   
“Hey, I’m not six,” said Harry grinning.  
“No, but I suspect you probably have been dealing with a dead body.”  
“Ah... yes, I’ll just head,” He gestured towards the bathroom.  
Severus concentrated on scooping large spoonfuls of chilli onto Harry’s plate and slightly smaller scoops onto his own. He had just lifted the plates onto the table and was pouring the wine when Harry appeared looking cleaner and calmer.   
“Sit.”   
“Yes Dad,” said Harry half mockingly.  
“It has been an eventful day?”  
Harry nodded putting a fork full of curry to his mouth, “Wow! This has quite a kick. You must show me how to make it, Ron loves spicy food.”  
Severus ignored the diversion. “What happened?”  
“I got the body identified really easily. I just got Wilhelm to collect me from our morgue at coffee time. He identified him immediately.”  
Severus nodded encouragingly.   
“As soon as word got round it was Lubricus they gave me full access to his personal records.”  
“You are still on the case?” verified Severus. “I wondered whether once they realised he was an ex auror they would give it to an old hand”  
“Yeah, I had wondered that too, but apparently being an outsider worked in my favour. They wanted someone with “no preconceptions.” ”  
“Did they?” said Severus musingly “Very interesting.”   
“They were even more spooked when they thought to link it to that tip off that they got last week. Hand delivered, left in the internal mail. That’s why they instituted a search down by the warehouses.”  
“Even more interesting. What did the note say?”  
“Individual presumed dead, delivered to industrial estate via flying carpet.”  
“And they took that seriously?” inquired Severus incredulously.  
Harry nodded in agreement. “It contain a special auror code in the last line. The codes are used to classify cases into various categories. This linked the case with the dark arts. “   
“Fascinating, “observed Severus.“They fear an inside job!”  
Harry noted, “ They do. But his personnel file is even more fascinating.”  
“You been through it already?” asked Severus sharply.  
Harry grinned. “Like to see?”  
Severus hesitated and then nodded.  
“I’ll get the pensive.”

This time they entered the memories together.   
Harry was in an office: desk, chair, window. On the desk was a large file. Harry was sitting at the desk immersed in the papers.  
“Not a sight we often saw at Hogwarts,” remarked Severus snidely.  
Harry grinned amiably. “His personnel file.”  
“Interesting read?” inquired Severus.  
“Why don’t you have a look over my shoulder?”  
Severus stepped forward and began to read. It was a little awkward to read over someone’s shoulder in a memory. You had to synchronise your reading with theirs or you missed key facts. However, once Severus adjusted his pace, he found the file fascinating. Auror Harry did not try to read the whole file, he focused on key sections: personal information, investigation summaries, retirement sign off and his disciplinary record.   
Severus concluded that Lubricus had been a bit of a maverick. Visitor Harry was leant against the window when Severus had finished.   
Severus gestured that they should leave.   
Harry shook his head and pointed to auror Harry, who stretched, got up and started out of the room.   
“We need to follow,” instructed Harry.  
Severus followed auror Harry through the office corridors. They eventually entered a meeting room which was half full. Auror Harry and those around him, were grabbing coffee and bagels before sitting at the conference table.   
“You will need to do lots of exercise in this job, or you will become as fat as Slughorn,” Severus muttered.   
Harry pulled a face and gestured that they should listen. Peck stood up and began to speak.  
“Guys. Can you all grab a seat and I’ll give you a quick update on the case and then hand over to our secondee, Harry Potter. ”  
There were a few moments of scuffling while the room’s occupants grabbed a seat.   
“Ok. Thanks. So as most of you know a body was washed up near Beuren yesterday. We now have a positive ID. I’m afraid it was Lubricus. I have asked Mr Potter to lead the investigation. An independent assessment will, I believe, be vital and I expect you to do everything you can to assist him.”  
Severus detected surpsie and concern in the audience. Peck paused until the murmuring subsided and then gestured that Harry should take over.  
“As Lubricus was, until recently one of our own, I think a memory share might help take us forwards. I thought we’d start with..”  
“Did he drown?” interjected a thin pinched faced woman completely dressed in black.   
“No Adele, he didn’t. He was struck by a killing curse.”  
There was a rumbled of disquiet.   
“So no chance this was an accident?” confirmed a short stout man, wearing a gold necklace bearing the legend “Karl”, who was attacking his second bagel.  
“None. Unless he managed to hit himself in the back.”  
Severus was impressed that Harry took advantage of the stunned silence to recapture control of the meeting.   
“So can we start pooling memories? Into two containers please: container one for the memories just before he retired; container two for any contact after he left the service.”   
Harry passed one large blue bottle to his left and a red one to his right.   
“Please give us everything you have, every small detail could be important. “  
A moment or two later they were back in the Severus’ sitting room.  
Severus reseated himself and reached for his wine. “You have viewed the memories?”  
Harry plonked himself down in the armchair. “No, thought I’d start fresh in the morning.”  
Severus nodded with approval, “As you said the details could be important.”  
Harry grinned. “Want to come along? Two pairs of eyes are better than one.”  
Severus slowly placed his wine on the table.  
“Surely you are not suggesting a covert in disguise mission to the heart of Gottingen’s auror offices?”  
“Of course.”  
“A few minutes ago, I was thinking how much you had grown up. Chairing a meeting of fellow aurors somewhat your senior. Advising caution at every turn, but you are still at heart a reckless Gryffindor.”  
“Always,” agreed Harry with a smile. “But this time my plans are fool proof.”   
Severus rolled his eyes, “Let’s hear it.”

Harry was making the tea when Severus came out of his room still clad in his dressing gown.  
“I was not sure what to wear for this ridiculous mission. “  
“Sit down, I’ve made pancakes,” ordered Harry. “I’ve borrowed some auror robes,” he added sliding two pancakes onto the plate.   
“And what about…”  
“Hair for the policy juice potion?” finished Harry. “There’s a packet on the counter, but have your pancakes first. I’ve been slaving over this hot stove for the last twenty minutes,” Harry added mockingly.   
Severus sat down and poured two coffees from the pot.   
“So who am I supposed to be?”  
“I told you last night, Wilhelm from the auror secretariat. Does the admin and jobs like this, second viewing of memories, cataloguing exhibits.”  
“The chap who took you on the working tour of Gottigen?”  
Harry nodded, “He’s been absent a bit too much these last few months.”  
“And he is away for few days? “  
“Yeah, his mum’s unwell. He’s already had loads of time off this year, so we are really doing him a favour.”   
“Is he not concerned about who will be filling his shoes and why do you believe you can trust him?”  
Harry passed Severus a plate and slid into a seat at the table.  
“He’s really desperate dad, she’s dying and he can’t afford to lose his job because he’s got two young kids. He isn’t worried about who it will be because I’ve told him it will be Ron.” Harry paused for a moment struggling with the golden syrup.  
He look across at Severus you was prodding his pancakes suspiciously with a fork.  
“I’m afraid he’s a bit of a Potter fan, you know, totally thrilled to be helping the golden trio.”  
Severus looked faintly nauseous.   
“But that works in our favour,” said Harry. “Ron will back me up if push comes to shove. He’s on annual leave before his secondment to Vienna so it all fits.”  
Severus sighed. “Potter you have been a trainee auror for what 18 months and already you are running detailed rule breaking plots with your fellow co-workers even while on secondment.”   
“No,” said Harry firmly “I’m just using out of the box thinking.”   
“Potter you don’t have a box to think out of,” Severus sighed again. “Go on tell me this plan”.

“So we assume for now that the dumping of Lubricus’ body in your warehouse was not a random coincidence.”  
Severus nodded cautiously.  
“So whoever, did this knew or at least had met and targeted you.”  
Severus nodded again.   
“Therefore you have met them even if you aren’t aware of it. Given Lubricus’ post retirement contract, it is possible that it is someone you met at the wandlore group.”  
“Reaching...”commented Severus.   
“Definitely, “agreed Harry. “But the connection with you is the only solid lead we have got so far. So if you come and sift the evidence with me it is possible that you will see something I will miss. “  
Severus nodded reluctantly. He could see the logic.   
“First stop is the auror station. We will go through the memories I collected last night and see what we can find. Then I’m afraid it is another trip to the Bank of Berlin. We will have to go through his safe deposit box again but we can also get a review the record of all his transactions etc.”  
Harry paused and looked inquiringly at Severus. “So you’re in?”  
Severus sighed, he needed to find who was targeting him if he was to protect his new life and Harry. He picked up the packet of hair reluctantly.  
“Obviously.”

“Coffee?” suggested Harry as they pushed through the double doors into Gottingen station.   
“Let’s just get on with it Potter,” muttered Severus.  
Harry through him a look. “Not very friendly, “ whispered Harry. “Wilhelm, is a paid up member of my fan club.”  
Severus supressed a groan whilst acknowledging Harry was correct. He forced his new features into a more amicable expression.  
“So what’s first boss?” he asked with forced enthusiasm. At least the robes were black but these tight auror boots were ridiculous.   
Harry supressed a grin.   
“I’ll get last night’s memories from the safe if you want to head for work room three,” said Harry loudly. “Third door on the left,” whispered Harry. “Back in mo.”  
Severus almost panicked when Harry disappeared. Showing no outward concern he glided along the corridor eyes straight in front of him, praying that he did not bump into any of Wilhelm’s close friends. This plan had disaster written all over it. Why the hell had he let Potter talk him into it? He pushed open the third door and breathed a sigh of relief to find an empty conference room. He immediately flicked his wand towards the door and locked it. Potter could knock.  
Severus slid off his outer cloak and hooked it carefully on the cloak stand in the corner of the room. He flexed his shoulder uncomfortably. He hated this sort of room. They reminded him of the interrogation rooms after the Dark’s Lord’s first fall. He had spent many an uncomfortable hour in the Ministry of Magic’s interview rooms before Albus and succeeded in getting him released into his care pending his trail and subsequent return to Hogwarts.   
He wandered over to the window and looked out into the street. He lost himself in the flow of muggle and magical pedestrians, largely indistinguishable from each other, in the street below. He was roused from his musing by a sudden thud against the door.  
“What the hell?” exclaimed Harry.  
Severus flicked his wand casting a cushioning spell as Harry staggered into the room with the bottles of memories. Sure enough he dropped one which rolled under the table.   
“Why did you lock the door?” moaned Harry reaching under the table to retrieve the blue bottle.   
“Because, you numskull, I don’t want to have to field loads of questions from close colleagues.”  
Harry nodded. “Good point. But don’t worry, sadly Wilhelm doesn’t have close working relations with most people here. Most aurors think they are too grand to talk to him because he is just an administrator. “  
“Apart from you I assume?”  
Harry spread his arms. “Well you know me. Friends with everyone.”  
Severus nodded heavily. He looked at the bottles on the table.   
“Where shall we start?”  
“Chronological order I think- pre retirement memories first?” suggested Harry, lifting a large pensieve out of a cupboard by the door.

Severus imagined that a time machine would be similar to travelling through multiple memories. Each memory lasted a couple of minutes, certainly no longer than five, giving you a brief glimpse of someone’s life. Most of the memories were based in the week or so before Lubricus’ retirement. There were a couple of 20 minute chunks where Lubricus had obviously gone for goodbye coffees with colleagues before the big exit. The rest of the memories, generally lasting only two or three minutes, were concentrated at his retirement party in the staff canteen.   
“You’ll be glad to see the back of the early mornings I reckon?” said an auror, whom Severus recognised as Karl from Harry’s previous memories.  
“I won’t miss them, that’s for sure. The one thing about being a contractor is that you can set your own hours.”  
“That’s what they all say. But before long their back knocking on the door of the security department asking to help with the admin. “  
“Not me, “said Lubricus shortly squaring his shoulders.  
The other auror snorted into his coffee.  
“Doesn’t pay well enough,” said Lubricus.  
“Got plans have you?”  
Lubricus nodded. “My son wants to study music in Russia.”  
His colleagues whistled. Severus didn’t blame him, the fees were enormous.  
“And I want a bit of time in the sun. That’s how I plan to spend my winter mornings.”

The next memory jumped to the retirement party. Severus glanced round the current memory the canteen had been transformed with retirement banner and on the table near the window was a large cake.  
Severus recognised Peck who was standing near the cake and was in the process of giving a speech.  
“Klasus Lubricus has been in the service for 30 years. Over that time..”  
Severus wished that there was a fast forward button for memories. He looked at the canteen‘s occupants. Lubricus looked faintly uncomfortable as one might expect given his boss was giving a blow by blow account of his career. The rest of the audience was divided fairly equally between: the nearly drunk, the very drunk, the openly bored and the desparately trying to appear interested. Only one young witch appeared to be drinking in the eulogy with real interest. “A fan of Lubricus or Peck?” wondered Severus.   
He realised that the speech was drawing to a close and forced himself to tune back in.  
“We will miss Lubricus of course, but we look forward to seeing him around as a private investigator and, “ Peck paused. “Telling him to get lost as he is no longer an auror.”   
The expected laughter followed. Lubricus grinned uneasily, squirming slightly.   
The next memory was from Peck himself as he dutifully passed a few minutes with Lubricus after his formal speech.  
“You’ll be working as an investigator, I understand.”  
Lubricus nodded slowly sipping his beer.   
“Do you have any contracts lined up?”  
“A couple, “admitted Lubricus cautiously.   
“Anyone interesting?”  
Lubricus hesitated.   
“A university contact.”  
“Which one?” asked Peck with interest.   
“I’d rather not say if you don’t mind,” replied Lubricus after a moment or two. “Client confidentiality.”  
“Of course, of course,” said Peck jovially. He leant forward “However, Lubricus please remember you’ll no longer be an auror just a member of the unwashed public. So I would avoid your usual rule bending.”  
It was nicely said but Severus felt the threat behind the light tone.   
Lubricus nodded stiffly resentment gleaming in his eyes.  
“I’d better circulate. Enjoy your evening and all the best,” Peck swung quickly away.  
The final memories redefined brevity, meaningless good byes and good wishes, perfunctory inquiries into retirement plans all of which Lubricus parried without difficulty. When they surfaced Harry looked thoughtful but seemed keen to press on.   
“Post retirement before we analyse?”  
Severus, who hoped that the analysis could take placed outside the auror headquarters, readily agreed and they plunged into the second bowl.  
“Hey, “   
An auror in uniform tapped the chap in front of him on the shoulder. Lubricus swung round.  
“How you doing, how’s retirement?”  
Severus had no difficulty recognising the Gottingen railway station.   
“Gunter, good to see you, Yeah I’m good,” replied an obviously sun tanned Lubricus.  
“You’re looking well. Retirement suits you. Long holiday?” said the auror pointing to the tan.   
“Nah, business trip mate.”  
“Great work if you can get it,” said Gunter the envy clearly detectable in his voice.   
“Financial investigations. That’s where the money is,” Lubricus grinned. “Anyway got to go. Train to catch.”

Severus did not recognise the second venue. It was a men’s outfitters of some kind. Muggle by the looks of it.   
An auror, who Severus did not recognise, was stood in the street peering through the shop window.   
“Come on Max we’ve got loads to do,” said the woman next to him tugging his arm.  
“Blimey it’s Lubricus!” he said to his female companion.   
Mrs Auror, thought Severus. He’s been dragged out shopping after work. The joys of being married.  
“He must be earning a bit. Look at that suit, Armani !” said Max.  
“Army?” repeated his wife.  
“Amani,” said Max impatiently. “Posh muggle brand. He always was a flash git.”  
“Pity his ex-wife didn’t see more of it. I wouldn’t have put up with him myself.”  
Severus lip curled. He often wondered if he and Lily would have become one of those carping couples if they had got together. He dismissed thoughts of Hermione and Mr Weasley.  
The moment faded to blackness and Severus pulled himself out of the bowl. Harry joined him a few moments later. 

“I could use a coffee, “said Harry putting the lids back on the memory bottles.   
Severus nodded. “Not the staff canteen Potter, somewhere we can talk with ease,” he paused. “And somewhere that serves decent coffee. That stuff I saw in the memories looked like that potion I use to treat cold sores.”  
“I know just the place. Muggle and close by.”

The Badehaus coffee shop was in a small street off the square. Severus raised his eyebrows. Harry pointed to words carved above the stone doorway: Public baths 1878. They went into a narrow hallway and swept up the stairs into a wide open café with around 20 round tables, less than half of which were occupied. Harry headed for the serving counter on the left of the doorway. Severus strode over to a French window that opened out onto a small balcony with a tiny table for three. He sat down.   
Harry appeared a few minutes later carrying a tray of coffee.   
“China cups?”   
“They are rather old fashioned but the coffee is good,” said Harry sitting down rather gingerly on one of the wooden slat chairs.   
“It is certainly discrete,” admitted Severus sipping the coffee which was more than palatable.   
“So,” began Harry. “After a session like that we are advised to pool our key impressions.” He pulled a notebook out of his bag,  
“You’re so hi-tech Potter,” muttered Severus.  
“We have to keep proper records you know.”  
“Do you want to go first? “suggested Severus, curious as to how much the boy had picked up.   
“Sure. Well, this is all about money. “   
Severus nodded.  
“He had big expensive plans before he left us: his son’s education, time in the sun. After he had left, we have a record of him making expensive purchases and looking tanned.”  
Severus nodded in approval. Harry felt he was back in the classroom.   
“He had a contract lined up at a university and there might be overseas links.”  
Severus nodded again, “Not bad. Anything else?”  
Harry paused. “He’s considered a bit of a rule breaker. “ He looked up at Severus. “What do you think?”  
“I think that is a reasonable analysis of what we saw,” Severus paused, he did not want to appear to be critical. How times changed.   
“Go on,” said Harry eagerly.  
“We saw him at the Gottingen railway station.”  
Harry nodded.  
“Well from what we saw he was leaving platform 8. Most trains out of there are bound for Berlin.”  
“Berlin University?”   
“Maybe,” said Severus “He could have been following an investigation lead.”  
“It’s worth pursing,” said Harry excitedly.  
“Certainly,” agreed Severus.  
“Anything else?” asked Harry. “This coffee’s good isn’t it?”  
Severus nodded. “There was clearly a tension between Peck and Lubricus.”  
“Always worth looking into, “said Harry.  
“Indeed, but it also gives us an insight into Lubricus’ likely behaviour.”  
Harry looked blank.  
“A poor relationship with Peck means he was less likley to turn to the auroras if he got into trouble. “  
“Yeah, “agreed Harry “I’ve heard him described him as a bit of a loner.”  
Severus sat back and finished his coffee. “So what’s the plan boss?” he asked ironically.   
Harry rubbed his nose, “We should investigate his finances and company accounts if he had any. “  
Severus nodded.   
“I should probably talk to Peck again about his impressions and Lubricus career and see if I can get hold of his security file.”  
“Agreed,” said Severus.   
“I’ll need to go through his office and talk to his family. Well his son at least.”  
“I’d cast the net a bit wider, “ advised Severus. “Ex-wives can bare grudges.”  
“Good idea,” agreed Harry. He paused, “I’m not sure how to pursue the university angle.”  
Severus hesitated “Perhaps your other investigations will show you a way to approach it.”  
“Of course, the search of his home and office and the investigation of his bank account should reveal who he was working for. I wonder which would be best to do first,” mused Harry. “Bank first I think, “ he concluded. “Then if we find any anomalies we can search for evidence to explain them.”  
“Are you going to need me for that?” inquired Severus.  
“Definetly, “said Harry without hesitation. “That is one of the main reason I wanted you to join the investigation.”  
Severus raised an eyebrow.  
“Under auror regulations all investigations of that type have to be conducted by at least two officers.”  
“And if you took anyone else, it would become quickly apparent that Lubricus had accessed his safe deposit box after he was dead, “observed Severus.  
“Exactly, which would lead to loads of unhelpful questions which I am trying to avoid.”  
“Indeed,” Severus agreed.  
It was lunchtime and the banks shut at 4 o’clock, so they would wait for tomorrow befoe heading back to Berlin. It was agreed that Severus would go back to the apartment, allow the polyjuice to wear off and then head for the warehouse for the afternoon. Harry would go and try and make an appointment with Peck. They would meet back at the flat at 6pm. Harry promised to: “Grab some stuff from the supermarket and rustle up a quick pasta dish.”

By the time Severus re-entered the apartment he was feeling hungry. He had tried to squeeze a day’s work into four hours. He had spent most of the time talking to customers about new orders, 30 minutes discussing the progress of the new research and the last 15 minutes in a grindingly boring meeting with his office manager about the theft of milk from the staff fridge. A number of his workers were upset. “Intsall a free coffee machine,” Severus had finally snapped.   
As he opened the apartment door, he expected to see Potter huddled over the stove, pans boiling over while he grated cheese. Harry was a very chaotic cook who rarely used magic. This led to a number of spillages and burnt pans. Instead Harry was crouched over the dining table which was covered in papers. Well he supposed they could order in.   
Harry looked up and smiled. “Great you’re in good time. “  
“You have discovered something interesting?” Severus gestured to the files as he unbuttoned his coat.   
“What? Yes, I have. But I meant you were in good time for dinner. I thought you might be tempted to stay at the warehouse a bit later given you missed this morning.”  
“No, I managed to do what I needed to do.” He paused, “We could order in.”  
“What? No I have made a pasta bake. It’s in the oven. It just needs heating up. “  
Severus avoided looking surprised.  
“You thought I’d forgotten,” grinned Harry perceptively. “No chance of that. I once forgot to prepare dinner for Ginny after I promised. Never again. I was in the dog house for three weeks.”  
Severus hid a smile. Good for Miss W… Mrs Potter but he avoided commenting. “You said you had discovered something interesting?”  
“I have indeed,” said Harry proudly.  
Severus reached for the bottle of red wine and gestured to Harry. Harry shook his head.  
“First, he was really good at his job. His case clear up rate is really impressive. Best in the department most years. “Harry continued, “But he did cut corners. He got at three formal warnings in the last five years.”  
“For?” asked Severus sipping his wine.   
“Acting without authority and in one case disobeying a direct order.”  
“This guy thought he knew better than everyone else?”  
Harry nodded. “Guess whose direct order he disobeyed?”  
“Peck’s?” said Severus.  
“Exactly. Peck had him demoted. So no way Lubricus was seeking his help if things went wrong!”   
“That is interesting,” agreed Severus.  
“But, what is even more interesting, “said Harry “Is that last year he was forced to attend a refresher course in legal ethics. Guess where?”  
“University of Berlin?”  
Harry nodded. “I bet that where he got his first contract from.”  
“That is a possibility, “agreed Severus. We should know more tomorrow after we access his accounts. “What time were you planning to set out in the morning?”  
“7am train. Then we can be there when the bank opens.”  
“In which case I recommend an early night.”  
“And not too much wine, “added Harry cheekily.  
Severus gave a mock scowl.  
Harry grinned, “I’ll head for the shower. I’ll just put this stuff away. I’m not really supposed to take it out of the office it’s confidential. I can debrief you after dinner, “he thrust the papers into a brief case and headed to the bathroom. “Can you put the oven on at 180 degrees?”  
Severus nodded and flicked his wand towards the oven. Potter was still Potter, he reflected. Effortless energy, endless plans, bounding around and still occasionally slipshod. The boy had pushed the files into his brief case but a few sheets were poking out.   
Severus sighed, levered himself off the couch, opened the case a little wider to push the file inside. As he did so, the file flopped open more widely and a picture caught his eye. He paused and looked towards the bathroom door. He could hear the shower running. His hand slipped into the bag and pushed the file open more. The picture was of a woman in plain robes. He glanced again at the bathroom door before levering the file out of the case holding it open at the picture. Severus glanced quickly at the surrounding papers. It was a security file, checking Lubricus’ activities. There had been allegations about the nature of Lubricus’ relationship with the woman. Colleagues had mooted that there had been an extra martial affair and there were concerns that Lubricus was at risk of being blackmailed. Lubricus had denied that and the security investigator had aceepted that she was just a family friend. Severus closed the file and replaced it in the bag. Lubricus’ explanation had been plausible. The incident might have no connection to his death. The only problem was that Severus recognised the woman concerned. The last time he had seen was at the wandlore club where she had introduced herself as Calista Dives.  



	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 6  
For Severus the journey to Berlin was more relaxed than the previous one. He was still travelling as someone else but this time as part of a legitimate investigation and the train was certainly more leisurely than floo. Harry was clearly loving every minute of it. He had never travelled far and he peered out of the windows with the earnestness of a young Magellan. They had discussed aparating but Harry was determined “to see something of the country”.   
As Severus watched him bouncing around on his seat and pointing out passing forests, villages and animals, Severus reflected on the transformative nature of fatherhood. There would have been a time when Potter’s behaviour would have precipitated a stream of sneers from Snape, now Severus, separated from him for months, merely basked in his company.  
Once they got to Berlin, Severus took the lead, guiding Harry out of the railway station though the streets to the bank.   
“Come along Potter, “urged Severus for the fifth time as Harry paused to gaze at yet another grand building.  
“Do we have time for a coffee?” asked Harry wistfully as they passed “Kronner” with a red stripped awing over a rooftop restaurant.  
“Not if you want to be there for opening time,” Severus paused. “It’s your call Harry.”  
Harry groaned. “No, lets push on, I should have had more breakfast.”  
Severus shrugged and continued, he paused a few doors down from the bank.  
“It is two minutes to 9am. You are prepared?”  
Harry nodded. “Maybe they will offer us coffee?”  
Severus rolled his eyes and gestured for them to proceed as they followed the green lights to the side entrance of the Deutsche Bank. He was three paces behind Harry when they reached the steps to the bank. As Harry ascended, Severus saw his game face slid into place, his step became more assured and quickened as he pushed open the door and entered.  
Harry strode purposefully towards reception. If he was surprised that the Goblins wore sharp blue business suits, he gave no sign of it.  
“Good morning. I’m with the Gottingen aurors. I need access to one of your client’s accounts.”  
The goblin scowled. “You have a warrant?”  
Surely we have not come all this way in vain, thought Severus. But seconds later Harry pulled a small roll of parchment out of his pocket and handed it over. The goblin’s scowl intensified as he perused the warrant carefully. Harry was the picture of calm authority.   
“Wait here, “ snapped the golbin, disappearing through a door behind the reception desk. Harry turned slightly and gave a ghost of a wink and then leant back against the desk as if he was studying the ceiling.   
“Mr Potter?” A goblin in dark grey suit appeared through the door followed by his disgruntled colleague.  
Harry swung round and held out his hand.  
“I’m Cobalus, head cashier,” said the goblin giving Harry’s hand the briefest of shakes. He was tall for a goblin and had unexpectedly large shoulders. “Will you come this way?” he gestured for them to go through the door behind the reception desk.   
The room was very different to the one in which Severus and viewed the safe deposit box. It was an ornate, traditional office, oak desk, oak panelling, gold chandeliers, and leather backed chairs.   
Cobalus gestured to two chairs in front of his desk.  
“The warrant appears to be in order,” he admitted grudgingly, rubbing his chin. “Can I ask what this is about?”  
“Mr Lubricus has been found dead,” said Harry succinctly. “Murdered.”  
The goblin’s lip curled. “You would hardly be here otherwise.”  
Harry remained silent.   
“I will have his accounts and safe deposit box brought to this room.”  
“You do not have vault?”  
The goblin’s lips almost disappeared. “You are English of course. Gringotts, how shall I put this, is a very traditional bank? We have adopted more streamline methods, we keep up to date accounts of everyone’s holdings and people let us know how much they need. We do not leave all our gold festering in stone vaults.”   
Cobalus stood up nodded sharply and stepped out of the room.   
“Arrogant git,” muttered Harry.   
“I assume the Harry Potter legend usually smooths the way,?” said Severus with the minimum of sarcasm.  
“Normally,” admitted Harry honestly.   
“It will not do so here, Harry,” said Severus gently. “They will have heard all about Gryffindor’s sword and your attempt to mislead Griphook.”  
“Really! They are bearing a grudge, even after I killed Voldemort?”  
“Always,” said Severus firmly. “That is their nature.”  
“Well I don’t need them to like me, just respect what I say.”  
“Exactly,” agreed Severus. “That is what being in charge is all about.”  
Harry grinned “You would certainly know.”  
Severus was prevented from cuffing him by the door opening and two goblins entering with Lubricus safe depoist box and a tray piled high with rolls of parchment. These they placed upon the desk.   
“Ring the bell, when you have finished,” instructed the goblin carrying the box. He pointed to a small gold bell on the table.   
“Thank you, “said Harry politely. “Box or rolls?” he asked once they were alone again.   
“Rolls, “said Severus. “What do you want me to look for?”  
“Patterns,” said Harry. “Regular incoming payments, or large lumps sums. Plus any unusual expenditure. “  
“Define unusual,” demanded Severus.  
“Anything that could be business related. My trainer always said you’d know when you saw it.”  
“Hum,” muttered Severus, unrolling the first scrolls.   
They worked in silence for around 15 minutes. Severus concentrated on the six months since Lubricus had retired. As an auror he had been paid £3000 a month. Since then, he appeared to have recived £1500 from his pension. In addition, there were three other streams of revenue. He was receiving a weekly payments of £100, and monthly payments of £500 and £1000. There were also a couple of lump sums which Severus assumed were for one off jobs. He made a careful note of all the sums and dates. In terms of expenditure, there was a monthly payment of £1000 which Severus assumed was to his ex-wife. There was another to a university in Moscow which was no dount his son’s tuition fees. More complex to analyse was what appeared to be a myriad of expenses including a flight to the Cayman Islands.   
When Severus finally looked up he saw that Harry gazing down at the contents of the safe depoist box which he laid down on the desk and appeared to be photographing. He was surprised that the process was taking so long given Harry had studied his memory of Severus’ examination of the strong box.  
Harry raised his eyes, appearing troubled.  
“Problem?” inquired Severus.  
“There are no passports in the box,” Harry said in a low voice. 

Following Harry’s announcement, they had both double-checked the contents of the strong box and questioned the chief Cashier closely about the last time Lubricus had accessed his box. This had proved to be a couple of days after Severus’ visit. Upon receiving this information they had packed up their notes and bade Cobalus farewell. Harry had warned the chief cashier that follow-up questions or a further visit might be necessary.   
Severus had been keen to get back to Gottingen but Harry was desperate to sample the local Kaffee. They had comprised: they would stop for coffee and pastry but would forgo the rail journey home and apparate instead. As a result, they were now seated at the Krunner under the large red awning that had attracted Harry’s attention. Severus had opted for an expresso, Harry on the hand had indulged in a hot chocolate monstrosity with cream, sprinkles and other exciting objects. It served to remind Severus of the boy’s youth.  
“So, “said Harry wiping his mouth with a napkin. “You were not the only one to use polyjuice potion.”  
Severus nodded.   
“But why take the passports? Are they going to use them?”  
Severus shrugged, “Maybe, or maybe those travel cards and identities reveal something about the murder.”  
“Yeah, we are going to need to examine any trips abroad very carefully.” Harry paused. “So what did the accounts show?”  
Severus retrieved his notebook from his robes. “There were three sets of regular payments and a few lumps sums. The latter were probably for one-off jobs. I have taken all the details done carefully.“  
“Were all the regular payements for about the same amount of money? “  
“No one set of payments was much larger than the others. £1000 per month. “  
“That looks like his main contract.”  
Severus nodded.   
“What about his expenditure?”  
Severus handed Harry his notebook. Harry had a sip of chocolate and then studied it carefully.   
“Lots of interesting purchases that might prove important. But given the removal of the passports, the trip to the Cayman Islands looks significant. Although I am not sure how…“  
Severus nodded in agreement. “So what’s next?”  
“I need to check in with the office and write up my report when I get back to Gottingen. “  
“If you can do without me, I ought to check in with the warehouse. “  
Harry nodded, “We can plan our next moves over dinner tonight.”  
Severus nodded. “My turn to cook.”

By the time Severus had spent three hours at the warehouse, he did not feel like cooking so he picked up a Chinese take away and cast a warming spell on it. When he reached the apartment, he opened the door and then paused hearing voices in the living room.  
“Yes well. I decided not to stay in the hotel. This is an air bnb so it’s quite a lot cheaper.”  
“Good, we can spend what you save on redecorating the kitchen. I am picking out some new units and tiles.”  
A Mrs Potter firecall, realised Severus. Hence the white lie about an air bnb. He moved further back into the hallway.  
“Hermione sends her love.”  
“Great,” said Harry.  
Severus could tell from his tone that Harry had realised that he (Severus) had entered the flat and Harry was desperate to end the call.   
“She seems to be picking up at last, she even smiled when we had Sunday lunch at the Burrow at the weekend.”  
Severus clamped down on his thoughts.  
“Great,” said Harry again. He sounded strained even to Severus’ ears. “Look Ginny I need to go a patronus has just arrived from the office.”  
“Really, I can’t see anything.”  
“It’s invisible, “improved Harry. “It’s a special invisible one.”  
Severus rolled his eyes. On the believability scale that was 2 out of ten.   
“I have go anyway. I need to wash my hair before the morning.”  
Severus shut his ears tightly to the final goodbyes.  
After couple of minutes he poked his head round the door. Potter was sat on the sofa staring at the empty fireplace.  
“Invisible Patronus?”   
Harry roused himself. “Yeah, that was pretty lame. I am amazed she didn’t spot that.”  
“You will be in trouble if she mentions it to someone else... Mr Wesley or...,”  
“Hermione,” added Harry quietly.  
“Yes Miss Granger,” agreed Severus calmly. “You do not need to treat me with kid gloves.”  
Harry looked at the fire. “At first, you know last summer, I thought it was just her that was really hurt. It was only later, you know when we were talking on the phones and you were settling here that I realised…”  
“That I had cared as well?”  
“Yeah, I didn’t know whether you wanted to talk about it or just ignore it,” Harry looked straight at him.  
Severus put down the bag and took off his cloak.  
“I did care, I do care but not as I did for your mother. And I am old and tough enough to put it behind me and make a new life as I truly hope Miss Granger is doing.”  
“She is,” confirmed Harry. “It was a while and Ron showed much more tact and patience than I would have ever thought possible.”  
“He loves her, “observed Severus simply.  
“Yes he does,” agreed Harry quietly.  
“Come, I have brought a Chinese take away, let’s eat and discuss the case. Unless we solve this, I will have no new life to pursue.”

“Do you want that prawn cracker?” asked Harry.  
Severus shook his head and polished off his last spoonful of rice. He sat back and sipped his wine.  
“I will cook a proper meal tomorrow.”  
“Take-aways are great, “said Harry enthusiastically. “The Dursleys never had them and Ginny really disapproves of them. “  
“I don’t suppose Mrs Weasley would ever have approved.”  
“No. Home cooking all the way,” agreed Harry. “But you might have thought that Ginny would have wanted to experiment a bit.”  
Severus shrugged.  
“So what are your plans for tomorrow?”  
“Searching his flat,” said Harry promptly. “A search warrant should be ready by 10am. Are you available to help or are you busy at the warehouse?”  
“I can accompany you, “said Severus. “That is the beauty of being the boss.”  
Harry poured himself some more pumpkin juice. “I talked to Peck after I had written up my report.”  
“Do you want some pudding?”   
“Is there any ice-cream?”  
“There is but I bought an apple tart. “  
“Fanatstic. I’ll have that with some ice cream.”  
Severus rolled his eyes. “Continue with your story while I serve up.”  
“Yeah, well I went to his office to hand in my report. He agreed to authorise the warrant and then I asked him why he and Lubricus didn’t get on.”  
“You did not beat about the bush I see,” observed Severus neutrally.  
“Yeah, I might have been a bit more subtle if it had been my boss back in London.“  
Severus nodded but doubted that was true.   
“Anyway, he hummed and ahed a bit. It was bit like getting the truth out of Slughorn, but anyway after a while he caved in. I can see why he didn’t want to tell me.”  
“Embarrassing?” asked Severus.   
“Very, he and Lubricus had a duel after Lubricus had made a pass at Peck’s wife at the Christmas party.”  
“So we can add womaniser to the list of Lubricus’ traits.”  
“Would seem so.”  
“So,” concluded Severus “That means that his death might not have been related to his work.”  
Harry nodded. “Yep, much wider circle.”  
“Wonderful,” said Severus gloomily.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 7  
“I can see why his rent was so expensive,” commented Severus. They were on the landing in one of the most luxiourous apartments building in Gottingen. It was 10am. Harry had collected the warrant from the station about an hour before.   
“Pretty swish, “agreed Harry. He pulled out his wand. “Alohamora”. The door clicked open easily.   
“That was very straightforward,” said Severus cautiously.  
“Yeah that’s what I was thinking. Harry pushed the door open carefully. “Wow!”  
The door opened into the main living room. One wall was completely glass and had a magnificent view of the Gottingen sky line. The floor was plain wood and the sofas were a mixture of grey and blue. The coffee table was glass and on it was a wand.  
“Stylish and understated. A surprisingly tasteful décor,” observed Severus.   
“Yeah, I’d been envisaging something flasher,” said Harry carefully picking up the wand and putting it in a plastic bag. “I’ll get this checked out. No sign of a struggle, “ he added.  
Severus walked towards the window and gazed out. It was an impressive view. If the phone screen protector continued to do well he would consider a move to this part of town.  
“Hey Severus, look at this. “  
Severus turned round, Harry had ventured into one of the other rooms. He beckoned to Severus. Harry appeared to have found Lubricus’ home office. There was a desk and three filing cabinets.   
“Yeah. I guess we had better have a look through. One and a half each”  
Severus nodded. 

They worked in silence for the best part of two hours. At 12 o clock Severus sat up. He had finished his first Cabinet and he was desperately in need of a coffee.   
“I am going to investigate the kitchen”   
“Bored?” said Harry with a grin.  
Severus grimaced. “I remember why I chose the dark over the light. Law enforcement involves too much paper work.”  
“Yeah being an auror isn’t just about fighting dark wizards,” agreed Harry in a passable imitation of Severus. “Surely you had a lot of paper work as headmaster?”  
Severus nodded. “I learnt to delegate Potter. Minerva was always very good at that sort of thing. However, some of the files Lubricus has “borrowed” from the Gottingen station file store make for interesting reading.”  
“Yeah, I have come across..”  
The apartment door opened and closed. Severus froze and looked at Harry, who got up from the desk and headed to the study door with the warrant in his hand. Harry had his hand on the door when it was blasted off its hinges. Harry and the door hit the wall at the far side of the room. Severus, fighting the urge to run over to him, dropped behind the desk and slipped his wand into his hand. He started to move out from behind the left side of the desk when a jet of fire sprayed the office. Severus threw himself under the desk as the flames licked around the edges.   
Instinct born of years of serving the Dark Lord took over, the Elder Wand slid into his hand. He poked it out of the bottom of the desk and doused the office in water , with a second wave he sent a tornado spell into the living room. Instantly, there was the sound of furniture being whipped up into the air and propelled out of the door. This was accompanied by shrieks and thuds. Igonoring them, he vaulted over the desk to reach Harry. The charred door lay on top of him, which Severus realised was a blessing as it had protected Harry from the flames. Given the state of the office, the Incendio spell had been a pretty powerful.  
He moved the door with a swish of his wand and cast a monitoring spell. The boy was unconscious and his nose was broken but miraculously he was otherwise unharmed. Given Harry was in no immediate danger, he redirected his attention towards the intruder. Hand firmly gripping the Elder Wand, he headed for the office door, he gently eased it open and peered into the living room. The tornado spell had been aptly named. The stylish furniture had been destroyed, chairs, sofa cushions, glass from the pictures and ornaments were strunned across the room . He ventured forward . The bedroom to his right was largely undisturbed but the debris from the living room covered the landing outside the flat. He sent it back into the living room and directed a monitoring spell down the stairs. There were no signs of life.   
“What the hell is going on?” said a voice to his left. A tall, willowy wizard with a brief case had appeared from the flat next door.   
“Aurors,” said Severus flashing Wilhelm’s badge. The wizard blanched.   
“Ah right, I’ll let you get on with it. “  
“A moment if you would,” said Severus before the wizard could disappear back into his flat. “Did you see anyone a few minutes ago?“  
The wizard shook his head. “I was on a firecall” He paused. “Is Lubricus alright?”  
“Dead,” said Severus bluntly “A few days ago.”  
The wizard swallowed.  
“Is he still?” he gestured towards Lubricus’ flat.   
“No, “said Severus shortly. “The body was found elsewhere.”  
“Ah right well..” said the wizard visibly releaved.  
“Before you go, could you call a mediwitch? My colleague had been seriously hurt. “  
“Of course, “said the willowy wizard obviously depaerate to get away. “I ‘ll call St Lellis right way.”

Severus looked up from his paper. Harry had begun to move. Two minutes later he opened his eyes and tried to sit up. Severus touched a bell at the side of the bed before putting an arm around the boy to help him sit up.  
“Feel..”   
“Accio bowl,” commanded Severus. It arrived just in time. Once the retching had stopped, he passed Harry a glass of water.   
“Thanks,” Harry took a carefully sip. “God I feel dreadful.”  
“Inevitable if you go head first into a wall,” observed Severus,.  
Harry closed his eyes. When he opened them again he peered round the ward. “We need to stop doing this. It is becoming a constant in our lives.”  
“Agreed. But that would probably mean you changing careers.”  
Harry nodded and then stopped abruptly.   
“Yes, I would avoid movement for a while if you can.”  
Harry was inclined to agree with him but wisely avoided nodding, “What happened?”  
“What do you remember?”  
“Sorting through the filing cabinets in Lubricus’ office, hearing a noise... that’s it.”  
“Whoever was next door, blasted the door off its hinges and you with it.”  
“Did you get him?”  
“I did not. I used a Tornado spell and by the time I had checked you were still with us they had gone.”  
“Wow, you used a Tornado spell? I’ve always wanted to see one of those.”  
“It was impressive,” admitted Severus. “Although the fact that I used the Elder Wand probably gave it an extra boost.”  
“I’ll bet it did,” agreed Harry. “Wait, you took the Elder Wand with you?”  
Severus paused. “Yes I judged it prudent.”  
“You were worried about me,” Harry accused.   
“And rightly so,” replied Severus robustly.  
“Did you find my notebook?”  
Severus pulled a bedraggled notebook out of his robes. “I had to use an Aguamenti to douse the flames.”  
Harry flicked through the pages. “It is still readable, thankfully. Pity we didn’t get onto the second filing Cabinet.”   
“Now you are awake, I will go back and finish.”  
“ I’m amazed Peck didn’t assign someone else to do it. Hey wait, have you talked to Peck”  
“Potter how kind of you to ask, “ said Severus sarcastically. “I greatly enjoyed being interrogated by your boss whilst masquerading as one of his staff. I haven’t had so much fun since my last Death Eater meeting.”  
Harry groaned, “Oh gosh, I’m so sorry. I assume he didn’t unmask you?”  
Severus glared. “I spied on the Dark Lord successfully since you were in nappies, do you have any idea how good I am at this?”  
“Yeah, Dad, sorry of course.”  
“However, once you are able you should get in touch with Wilhelm very quickly in case any of his friends from the station get in touch for a gossip.”  
Harry nodded earnestly, “So if Peck didn’t discover your true identity, why didn’t he follow standard procedure and assign another team after the incident?”  
Severus hesitated, “I told him that the cabinets contained a number of files Lubricus had appropriated from the Gottingen auror file store. He did not want yet another team being given access. He would clearly be more comfortable with an outsider (you) and a lowly member of staff (me) seeing the material rather than his top team.”  
Harry looked confused.  
“Politics, Harry,” explained Severus. “Those files contain information about errors by his teams including him. They make interesting reading. He will not want that information spread round the department.”  
“Right, “ said Harry. “I bet Kingsley would feel the same.”  
Severus nodded.  
“Shall we go over what we have found?” said Harry struggling to sit up.   
Severus put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him back down.   
“You need a proper night sleep before we get to business,” he paused. “And so do I. I need to go back to the flat shower, eat and sleep. After that, I will head back to Lubricus’ apartment and finish going thorugh his office. When I return, we can discuss what we’ve discovered.”  
Harry looked contrite. “Yeah, sorry I should have thought. You look all in.”  
“I am a fine or I will be,” promised Severus with a slight smile. Parenting was an aging business. If he was still in England he would probably be aging as rapidly as Harry’s training progressed.

It was more than 12 hours before Severus re-entered the ward. He had slept longer than he had intended, 10 hours, and then sorting through the charred and soggy home office of Lubricus had taken another three. The final filing cabinet had been interesting and he had thought Harry would be pleased.   
When he entered the ward he saw that Harry was not alone. Beside his bed was a familiar looking red head. He was about to turn round and leave again ,when a voice behind him said:  
“Ah Mr Potter, you have another visitor.”  
Severus turned round. Behind him was the matron who had been there when he had arrived with Harry the previous day.   
Harry and Ron turned to look at him.   
Harry rose to the challenge.   
“Ah Wilhelm, can I introduce my friend and colleague Ron Weasley. Ron this is Wilhelm.”  
Ron stepped forward, hand outstretched. Severus moved forward and grasped it.   
“Mr Weasely a pleasure to meet you,” he said in carefully modulated tones.   
Ron shook his hand enthusiastically, Severus avoided wincing.   
“I heard you saved Harry here,” he said pointing back to the bed. “The whole family is very grateful. He’s a trouble magnet you know.”  
That was something Severus did not need to be told.   
“A pleasure,” said Severus fomally, he paused and forced himself to make an effort. “It is a great honour to be working with Harry.”  
Harry winced. Severus threw him a warning look.   
“I will not linger as you have a guest.”  
“No, no,” said Ron. “Join us. Harry is dying for an update on the investigation.”  
Harry gave an imperceptible nod.  
Severus moved forward and sat down.   
Harry cleared his throat.   
“So what did you find?”  
Severus had committed the details to memory, but in the circumstances it seemed sensible to play the part to its full. He pulled out the notebook and turned to the appropriate page.   
“Upon returning to the apartment, I searched the home office and the third filing cabinet. The cabinet contained approximately 40 files, most appeared to be duplicates from the station.”  
Harry rolled his eyes at Severus’ policeman impression. Ron, completely impervious, listened with rapt attention.   
Severus relaxed his delivery. “Filed under “U” was a contract between Lubricus and the University of Berlin. Lubricus was retained on a monthly fee of £1000. “  
Harry grinned. “Did it say what he was tasked to do?”  
Severus shook his head.   
“I guess the details were in his notebook rather than the contract itself.”  
“Probably agreed,” Severus. “But I searched the office from top to bottom and there is no trace of any investigation books. They weren’t in his personal possessions I take it?”  
Harry shook his head.  
“So,” said Severus. “Either there is somewhere we still need to search or someone has taken them.”  
Harry sat up straighter. Severus stopped himself from lending a hand and allowed Ron to assist.  
“Shall we review our findings?” said Harry eagerly. “Let me get my notebook.” He began to reach towards the bedside cabinet. Severus allowed Ron to assist again.  
Harry flipped through his notebook.   
“You want to label each investigation with post it notes so you can find it easily,” said Ron in a passable imitation of Hermione.   
Harry grinned uneasily and avoided looking at Severus.  
“Right, well shall I start?”  
“Fire away boss,” agreed Severus with barely perceptible irony.  
Harry cleared his throat.   
“So the cabinet I looked at contained about 50 files, organised in alphabetical order A-I. A lot of the files were station files that had clearly been illegally copied and smuggled out of the building. Most of the files either dealt with investigations or were about individuals the ministry suspected of wrong doing. There were so many that I concluded that they were not all necessarily pertinent to his current investigations instead he was probably building up some sort of reference library for future use,” Harry paused and looked up at Severus.  
Severus nodded. “I agree that accords with my discoveries.”  
“I found a handful of files that could be relevant to his current or recent investigations. “ Harry continued. “There were a couple of contracts for specific tasks. One was for surveillance one night a week. Probably a domestic issue.”  
“Probably,” agreed Ron, helping himself to a banana from the fruit bowl next to Harry’s bed.  
“The other involved the guarding of a shop in central Gottingen. Looked like wand shop from the name.”  
“They could be at risk of burglary,” commented Severus. “Although hot wands are rarely reliable and often backfire on their owner.”  
“Yeah, well it looks like that was just for a couple of weeks. Maybe they had a special shipment or something. Anyway from the paperwork I found it looks like he subcontracted that job”  
“Not uncommon,” observed Ron. “I was chatting to a couple of our retired aurors before I left England, they were both contracting, but they often subcontracted routine work to others.”  
Harry closed his notebook. “There were one or two interesting purchases in particular for a couple of books on muggle criminal detection. “  
“Let me have their titles and I will look them up,” suggested Severus.   
Harry handed him the note book. Severus copied the titles into his book.   
“So what did you find part from the university contract?”  
Severus slipped his note book into his robes and put Harry’s on the bedside cabinet.   
“One further contract. Looks like he was searching for someone who had reported missing a father.”  
“Could be interesting,” said Harry eagerly. “Any details?”  
“I doubt it is important. The man had been missing since the war with Grindelwald. It is probably an attempt to find a missing relative.”  
“It’s long time ago,” said Ron.  
Severus shrugged. “A son maybe trying to find what happened to his father in the war. It is not uncommon. He heard the family stories and the official line but wants to know for sure.”  
“Surely the chances of him still being alive..”  
“Very slender,” agreed Severus. “But some families want closure. Understanding what happened helps people to put events behind them. However, we should probably have a cursory investigate.”  
“Agreed” said Harry.   
To remain in character he should appear unwilling to intrude, thought Severus. “I had better head home. “   
“No, no, don’t go on my account,” said Ron. “I am keen to learn what the Gottingen aurors are like.”  
“Wilhelm doesn’t want to talk shop all the time,” said Harry quickly. “He’s had a long day.”  
Severus paused. “You are staying long in Gottingen?”  
“No, fleeting visit. I am off on secondment to Austria. Vienna. When I heard Harry had been hurt I thought I would take a quick detour. Do you have many dealing with the Austrian aurors?”  
“Not personally,” said Severus smoothly. “I am often preoccupied with admin.”  
“Really, “said Ron “That’s odd you strike me a field man.”  
Which does not bode well for my cover with the Gottingen aurors, thought Severus. He reminded himself that underestimating Weasley was often a mistake.  
“When are you due in Austria? “  
“Midday tomorrow, “said Ron. “By the way Harry can I crash at your digs tonight? If you give me the keys, I will drop then in tomorrow morning. It’ll give me a chance to say goodbye.”  
Severus prevented himself from blanching. Harry was not so skilled.  
“Hey you okay mate? I think we are tiring you out, you’ve gone white. We’d better let you get some sleep. Just lend me your keys and I’ll be off. Ginny said you had got an air bnb”  
Harry opened his mouth but nothing came out.  
“That’s right,” said Severus. “He is renting a room in my apartment. You are welcome to stay the night.”  
“You sure?” said Ron “I didn’t realise from what Ginny said that Harry sharing. “  
“No problem,” said Severus casting a “Pull yourself together” look at Harry.” “Saves us both money.”  
“Yeah, yeah, makes sense.” Ron turned to Harry “So okay you with you?”  
“Of course, “said Harry making an effort. “It might be a bit untidy.”  
“I will leave you two to say goodbye. Mr Weasley I will see you at the entrance to the hospital in ten minutes?  
“Great,” said Ron.   
Nodding to Harry, Severus headed quickly out of the ward. As soon as he was out of the door, he apprated straight into his apartment. He had probably about seven minutes to check that there was nothing tying him to Severus Snape before he had to collect Ron. He accio variouns rare potion manuels from the bookshelves and sent them swirling into his wardrobe although he doubted Weasley would understand their significance. In the kitchen was a large jar full of polyjuice potion created for their current mission. Weasley almost certainly would recognise that. Severus quickly transfigured it into a jar of pasta and put it into the cupboard. Ron wasn’t staying long enough to try to cook a meal.  
He warded his bedroom door and headed into Harry’s. The room was surprisingly tidy. Mrs Potter’s work no doubt. He rifled quickly through the wardrobe and the drawers. Nothing obviously incriminating except for the phone Severus had given him so they could communicate while Harry was in England. Severus tucked it into his robes. He would return it to Harry at a later stage. The boy did not use it while in Gottingen and it would raise too many questions if Ron found it.  
Returning to the living room, he aparated once again. The hospital entrance came into view. Good Mr Weasely was no doubt still chatting to Harry. He straightened his robes and tried to adopt a friendly expression. Ron appeared a couple of minutes later.   
“Hey, thanks for waiting.”  
Severus bowed his head in a “your welcome” non-threatening sort of way.  
“Shall we proceed?” he asked proffering his arm. “I will apparate us to the entrance of the apartment block.”  
Ron hitched his rucksack onto his shoulder and grabbed Severus arm. Moments later they were in the street. Severus ensured Ron had his footing before releasing him.  
“Nice part of town,” said Ron. “My digs in Vienna sound a bit dire from what others who have visited have told me.”  
“Shall we take the stairs or would you prefer the lift?” asked Severus politely, ruthlessly burying himself in the part.  
“The stairs are fine thanks. “  
Weasley was fit no question, his breathing barely changed on the way up the stairs. Severus cast a quick alohamora on the door, he did not want to risk running into the neighbours.   
“Wow. This is really impressive, what a view! Trust Harry to fall on his feet while the rest of us are in some grotty guest house!”  
“I like it,” agreed Severus amiably. “Harry’s room is over there.”  
“Fantastic, I’ll freshened up if that’s okay. I have been on the go since 6am this morning.”  
Good, thought Severus He will want an early night. Less time for chit chat.  
“By all means. I will make dinner.”  
Ron paused. “No don’t do that. I’ll buy you dinner the least I can do as you are saving me a night’s accommodation. I’ll charge it to the office.”  
Ministry expensive account, thought Severus viciously. He couldn’t face a meal with Weasley in a restaurant they would be completely focused on each other. He didn’t want to be subject to that kind of scrutiny.   
“That’s very kind, but let’s eat in. You must be tired and we both have early starts tomorrow,” he paused. “Why don’t we get a take away?,” he suggested cunningly. He would bet good money Ron had been as deprived of this treat as much as Harry.  
Ron’s face light up. “Great idea. I’ve heard of those but I have never had one. My mum and my girlfriend think they are unheathly.”  
“I am sure they are right,” conceded Severus. “But an occasional treat can’t do any harm.”  
Ron nodded eagerly.   
“You freshen up and I will search out my menus.”  
They chose Pizza. Severus went for a pepperoni with jalapeno peppers. The tough guy extra hot Pizza. He advised Ron to go for a Hawaiian as it was his first one.  
“Beer?” inquired Severus after the pizzas had arrived. Severus had put them in the warm oven temporarily.  
Ron shook his head. “Better have a clear head for the morning. Severus nodded pouring himself a small red wine and Ron a pumpkin juice.  
“This pizza is wonderful. My treat by the way. I have put the money on the kitchen counter.”  
“That is very kind but not necessary,” said Severus aiming for friendly but managing polite.  
“The least I can do. Look you saved Harry. I want to thank you for watching out for him.”  
“My job, “said Severus.  
“Yeah I know but not everyone would have thought on their feet like that. Some might have tried to chase the guy down after he exited the apartment rather than getting help for Harry.”  
Severus unbuttoned a little. ”I have come to like your friend during his time here.”  
“He’s a great guy,” agreed Ron.  
“You have been friends long? “   
Ron looked at him a little strangely.  
“I’ve have heard the stories of course but the truth is often different to the public tales.”  
“Yeah, you can say that again. Some of the recount of the stories I have heard of us breaking into Gringotts are just unbelievable,” Ron agreed. He grabbed a napkin and wiped his mouth. “This pizza is great. I love the pineapple.”  
“So you and Harry are good friends,” prompted Severus thinking it would be good to keep attention focused on events other than him, Harry and Gottingen.  
“Yeah, first meeting on the Hogwarts Express. Best friends from that point onwards. He married my sister you know?”  
“Yes, Harry mentioned he was married,”  
“Yeah a year or so. Seems happy. Ginny works at Quidditch Today”  
Severus nodded he knew all this.  
“Between you and me, “continued Ron “That’s the real reason I am here.”  
“Mrs Potter?” said Severus taking a sip of wine.  
“Well her and my mum.”  
“There is some problem?” inquired Severus carefully.  
“Well not a problem as such. In the circumstances they are anxious to check that Harry is ok and want me to ask Harry to be extra careful.”  
Extra careful. The boy that had never been extra careful. They had all been hell bent on trouble since they had disembarked at Hogsmeade station more than a decade ago!  
Severus remained politely interested.  
Ron hesitated.  
Severus raised an eyebrow and did his best to look uninterested.  
“Look, you seem like a good guy who is keen to watch out for Harry.”  
Severus nodded.  
“It’s just, Ginny, his wife, my sister, well she has just found out she is pregnant with their first child. So, obviously, she is anxious that Harry looks after himself.”  
He was going to be a grandfather. Severus forced his face into a suitable smile. “That’s wonderful news, Harry must be pleased.”  
“He doesn’t know. Ginny wants to do it herself. She is going to call him once he is out of hospital. I’m just wondering if I should tip him off.”  
Severus reflected, “Ensure that he gives an appropriate response?”  
“Exactly,” said Ron eagerly. “Don’t want him getting into trouble because he looked shell shocked or something.”  
“You think that is a risk?” asked Severus, which it clearly was.  
“Yeah, well I know how I would feel if Herm… my fiancé gave me that sort of news.”  
“You are getting married?” said Severus failing to resist temptation.   
“Yep, next year,” said Ron “Not that I am expecting that sort of news.”  
“No?” inquired Severus failing again.   
“My girlfriend is very ambitious, she’s very smart, much smarter than me. She’s even doing a muggle degree at the moment: Political Science.”  
“Which university?” asked Severus before he could stop himself.  
“Imperial. It’s part time a distance learning course.”  
Severus nodded. Ron took a gulp of pumpkin juice. Severus remained quiet.   
“It’s tricky having a bright fiancé, wonderful but tricky. Always worried she might get bored you know what I mean.”  
Severus remained silent.  
Ron starred into his glass.” I don’t know why I am telling you this, must be because Harry said you were a good bloke, sympathetic.”  
If only he knew.  
“I had problems a couple of years ago. She seemed to like someone else. Mature clever type. You know.”  
Severus nodded automatically.   
“I’m afraid it might happened again.”  
“He is still around?” asked Severus innocuously.  
“No, no he died, I’m just worried she will meet someone else. Maybe someone on the course. “  
Severus went cold.  
“Anyway at New Year, I made a resolution to try and keep up with her to some extent, ensure we had something to talk about apart from household maintenance.”  
“Good idea,” said Severus and meant it.  
“Yeah, but it is hard going.” Ron reached into his robes and pulled out a book.  
Severus peered over to look at it: Karl Marx.   
“That is quite a place to start.”  
“You’ve read it?” asked Ron eagerly .  
Severus paused and nodded.  
“Did you understand the concept of dialetic materialism?”  
You are finding it tough going?”  
Ron nodded.  
“Would you like me to explain?”  
“Would you?” asked Ron eagerly.  
Severus stretched out his hand for the book. 

As he filled the coffee pot the next morning, he reflected that he had never exhibited such patience in dealing with Ron Weasley. Explaining Karl Marx the previous evening had been a challenge and even now he was not sure Weasley completely understood. Severus had taken his time on the grounds that it avoided conversations of a more personal nature. He wondered if he was going to have to go in and wake Weasley up.  
The bedroom door opened and Ron staggered out. Dressed but yawning.  
“Morning” muttered Ron.   
“Coffee?” offered Severus.  
“Please, “said Ron.   
“Bread rolls?”  
“No thanks. I’ve packed up. I’ll grab a quick coffee and then I’ll get out of your hair. I want to drop in on Harry before I get the train.”  
“As you wish,” said Severus pouring the coffee. “What time are you expected in Vienna?”  
“Late morning, for a quick induction session. They give me the rest of the day to settle into my digs.”  
Severus sat down at the table with the coffee. Ron took a grateful sip.  
“You are going to give Mr Potter the news this morning?”  
“Yeah, I guess,” said Ron uneasily. “I mean what mates are for?”  
Severus nodded. It would save him giving Harry the news.   
Ron took a couple of gulps of hot coffee. “Look, I’ll l get going if you don’t mind.”He held out his hand. Severus took it.  
“Good luck in Vienna.”  
“Thanks. Hope the investigation goes well. And look after Harry ok?”  
“Always.”

It was three hours later before Severus reached the hospital. After breakfast, he had headed for the warehouse to speak to his manager and deal with a few customers. He also wanted the doctors to have completed their rounds so that a decision would have been reached on whether Harry could be discharged.  
It was fortunate that he had not left his arrival any later for Harry was finalising his release paper work when he arrived.   
Harry greeted him with a broad smile. “I can go, providing I don’t apparate for a week or two.”  
“We can live with that,” agreed Severus.  
Harry thanked the nurses and said goodbye to the others on the ward, he had become ridiculously popular given the short time he had been there.  
“How many times did you have to recount the story of the last battle?” inquired Severus as they headed for the lift.  
“Only once,” said Harry.  
Severus raised his eyebrow in surprise, pressing the button to summon the lift.  
“They all gathered round and they brought in all the patents from the other wards on this floor as well,” admitted Harry sheepishly.  
Severus rolled his eyes, “Of course, they did,” he muttered. At least the boy appeared unfazed by Weasely’s news.  
When the lift door opened it was empty for which Severus was thankful. He could do without another round of “Oooh you’re Harry Potter.”  
As the lift door closed Severus felt a strong hand gripping his arm, he looked down at Harry.  
“Dad, Ginny’s pregnant!”  



	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 8  
Severus had whisked Harry home in a muggle taxi for an emergency hot chocolate Over chocolate and bread rolls he had allowed Harry to talk out his fears: too soon, haven’t finished the house, haven’t qualified, Ginny’s career has barely started. Eventually, Harry ran out of steam.  
“I take it you were not trying for a baby?” said Severus.  
Harry shrugged “Not really, well on and off “  
“There is no on and off Harry,” said Severus severly. “Clear decisions are needed in this sort of situation.”  
Harry nodded and lowered his eyes.  
“Mrs Potter was keen?” surmised Severus more gently.  
“Mrs Weasley was really keen,” said Harry still gazing at his hot chocolate.  
Damn the woman. He would not have brooked such interference if he had been around.  
“And that put pressure on Ginny?”  
Harry nodded.  
“Harry you and Ginny are about to take on an enormous responsibility. You must act like the responsible adults that you are and assert yourselves.”  
“Wow,” said Harry “That is the first time you have ever called me responsible.”  
“Now is certainly the moment to prove me right,” said Severus. “Parenting is critical.”  
“Yes, look at Voldemort.”  
“Yes indeed,” agreed Severus. “You must give this all you have got. The first thing you need to do is go home.”  
“No,” said Harry firmly. “Not until this is cleared up.”  
“Harry, your first duty is to your wife.”  
“My secondment still has a couple of weeks to run, “pointed out Harry. “I must complete it in order to qualify as a full auror.”  
Severus relented. “Alright, stay until the secondment is done but not a day more.”  
Harry’s mouth set in a frim line but he refrained from responding. He took another gulp of hot chocolate.  
“Come on then,” said Harry jumping up. “If we only have two weeks, we need to get a move on.”  
“You are going out?”  
“I’m off to headquarters to check on the progress of the investigation. I’ll be back in a couple of hours and we will decide what to do next.”  
Before Severus could protest, Harry was out of the door and striding swiftly down the street.   
It was an hour and half before he heard Harry at the door, but when he had entered Severus could see he had lost none of his energy.   
“I need a shower,” he said “Then we need to go back to Berlin.”  
“To the university?”  
“Yep, Peck has got us an appointment with the Registrar for this afternoon- 5pm. “  
“We will need to hurry,” observed Severus. “We cannot apparate in your condition.”  
“I’ll only be a jiffy in the shower,” promised Harry.   
“I will put some coffee in a flask, “muttered Severus. “I need something to get me through another tedious train journey to Berlin, unless you feel up to taking the floo?”  
Harry thought for a moment and then reluctantly shook his head.

Less than thirty minutes later they were on their way to the Banholt. Severus wondered if he should buy some sort of season ticket to cut down on the cost. Once they were comfortably seated in a carriage of their own, Harry gave Severus a readout of his latest visit to headquarters.  
“So, I had a half hour chat with Peck that’s what took me so long. He spent the first twenty minutes checking I was really ok.”  
“Did not want to explain to Shacklebolt that they had killed the Ministry of Magic’s white hope for the future,” commented Severus perceptively.  
“Yeah, I’ve seen Mrs Weasely more relaxed,” Harry agreed. “However, he eventually calmed down enough for us to have a proper conversation about the investigation. He has sent Hanna to interview the family on the basis that she knows them and will be a friendly face. If they find something that looks like a lead, we can go back and play the heavy. In the meantime, he agreed that based on what we had found in Lubricus’apartment we should pay a visit to the university and he duly arranged an interview.” Harry rifled in his notebook “We are meeting Fudge at 5pm. You’ve met him haven’t you? What was he like?”  
“I am afraid he reminded me of our Fudge, they are distant cousins.”  
“Great. Well that’s something to look forward to, “groaned Harry.  
Severus unscrewed his flask of coffee. “Lets’ fortify ourselves,” he suggested.

Once they arrived at Berlin station, they disembarked and found a diagram of the city.  
“We need to take a train to the station for the botanical gardens. “We can walk from there,” observed Severus.   
Harry turned round and scanned the boards “Platform 8.”  
The journey to the Botanical gardens station took about twenty minutes through the outskirts of Berlin. Harry peered out of the window eagerly.   
“We need to pick up the pace,” warned Severus as he stepped onto the platform. “It is 1630, and we have a 15 minute walk.”  
It was a pleasant, if swift, walk through outer part of Berlin. It was much quieter than the central area, more trees less concrete. Harry looked longingly at the signs to the Botanical gardens.  
“Hermione took me and Ron to the ones near London. “  
“Kew Gardens,” said Severus. “Yes I went many years ago. Very impressive. Lots of interesting plants.”  
“I bet you took a few surreptitious cuttings, didn’t you?” accused Harry.  
Severus shrugged non-concomitantly. “They have some rare varieties that are very useful in some of the tricker potions.”  
“We could go for a quick look at this one,” said Harry hopefully.  
“Not today Potter. Another time maybe. We cannot afford to be late for Fudge.”  
“Yeah, I know your right. I thought this secondment would be a bit of a holiday you know. But it is worse than auror training.”  
“I doubt your career will ever be peaceful Potter, you are not destined for a quiet life.”  
Harry pulled a face and then smiled. “Still better than being bored eh?”  
“Infinitely,” agreed Severus whilst privately reflecting that he could live with a lot of boredom at the moment.  
“Wow,” said Harry as they entered the square of the central university. Greying white roman style buildings surrounded a green lawn crisscrossed by paths. “Impressive.”  
“Not unpleasant,” agreed Severus.  
“I think we need to head for that building with the columns. Peck told me to go to the main reception.”  
“Are you certain we could not just have used the floo?”  
“Well I was advised against that at the moment as well, but infact they are not connected to the floo network. Peck told me they were very security conscious. As they are surrounded by so many muggle students and professors they do everything they can to limit magical leakage. Apparently, they behave as muggle like as possible.”  
“That sort of disguise does not usually work well for wizards. Most have a tendency to get it dreadfully wrong.”  
Harry nodded thinking of Mr Weasley.  
“Apparently, they have been doing it for many years so they have built up a great deal of expertise and of course universities tend to accept eccentricities as normal.”  
“True,” agreed Severus.   
“Five minute to five. We’d better go in.”  
In the event Harry did not need to ask for anyone. As they approached reception, Fudge appeared. Severus was careful to show no trace of recognition.   
“Mr Potter?” inquired the Registrar.  
Harry nodded politely.  
“I’m Fredrick Fudge. A pleasure to meet you. I have obviously heard a great deal about you. I thought it best that I come to meet you and reception. Avoid any unforeseen complications.”  
“That was very thoughtful of you, “commented Harry. May I introduce Wilhelm Braun.”  
Severus shook hands briefly with Fudge, resenting his over forceful handshake but restraining himself from responding in kind.  
“Let’s go up to my office so we can talk in private.”  
Fudge’s office was right at the top of the building. Small windows but a wonderful view. Harry craned his head to admire it.   
The office surprised Severus. He had expected something much grander. More like Albus’ study. Instead the room reminded him of Scrooge’s counting house in a Dickens’ Christmas Carol. His mother had read him the story one Christmas when his father had been away on business. The room was full of filing cabinets, drawers, large record books and scrolls.   
“All the administration staff are at the top of the building. The rooms are small, but we have avoided going open plan and the views are wonderful.”   
Harry nodded. “Are a lot of the admin staff magical?”  
“My assistant Crassus and three more junior staff. The rest are muggles.”  
“And among the academic staff?”  
“A more significant number,” said Fudge. “The university teaches, potions, charms, transfiguration as part of the science faculty, arithmancy and we have a historian in the history department.”  
“No literature course?” asked Severus surprised.   
“Distance learning only, “said Fudge. “I’m afraid there just isn’t the demand for it these days. If we are not careful, wizarding poetry will become a lost art.”  
Which would be no great loss, thought Severus. Albus had been adamant that the subject was too woolly for Hogwarts. Binns had taught some of the old poetry as part of the history of magic. The students had no doubt slept through those as they had through the rest of the course.   
“Do have a seat,” said Fudge, indicating some hardback chairs in front of his desk.   
Severus and Harry sat down.  
“Well Mr Potter as I said it is a pleasure to meet you. Apart from the public legend, I have heard a great deal about you from my cousin, Corneluis.”  
“Of course,” said Harry. “I hope he is well? “  
“Like so many, his life hhas been disrupted by that unfortunate matter with Voldemort.”  
Which was one way of putting it, thought Severus.  
“It has left him in an uncomfortable position but things are getting back to normal I understand.”   
Harry smiled but said nothing. Sensing he would get nothing further from Harry on the situation in England, Fudge changed the subject.  
“Perhaps you could explain why the auror department in Gottingen needed to see me so quickly?”  
“Of course,” said Harry sitting up straighter in his chair. “A few days ago the body of a former auror, Klaus Lubricus, was found. We understand that he was retained by Berlin University to conduct an investigation. You were the signature on the contract.”  
Fudge was genuinely surprised, concluded Severus.  
“I am sorry to hear that. How did he die?”  
Harry ignored the question. “He had a contract here?”  
A flicker of annoyance crossed Fudge’s face. “Yes, he did. I retained him about six months ago.”  
Harry opened his notebook “Why was he retained?”  
Fudge paused. “This is a delicate matter, perhaps I should speak to the university lawyers.”  
“That is your privilege and we can, of course, get a warrant or we can proceed with this private conversation,” responded Harry calmly.  
Fudge licked his lips. “I take it his death was suspicious?”  
Harry paused and then nodded.   
“He died in Gottingen, I take it as it is being handled by yourselves rather than Berlin?”  
“The aurors only have an outpost in Berlin,” pointed out Harry avoiding the question.   
Fudge looked down at his pad. After a minute’s silence he looked at Harry “Do proceed.”  
“Why did you retain him?” asked Harry again.   
“We had discovered a problem at the university?”  
“What sort of problem?”   
Fudge licked his lips. “With the university finances.”  
“Go on,” encouraged Harry gently.  
“We had noticed that we seemed to be spending more that we should be doing.”  
“You had brought him in to do an efficiency study?” said Harry in surprise.   
Fudge supressed a small smile. “Sadly, no.”  
“You feared funds were being embezzled.” said Severus quietly.  
Fudge nodded. “It was very subtle. Not big sums, just everything seemed to be costing us around 10% more than it should have done.”  
Harry still looked confused. “Could prices have not gone up faster than you had expected.”  
“That, was of course, was what we were meant to think,” agreed Fudge. “And we noticed nothing amiss at first we just seemed to be getting through the budget much quicker than normal. But when we came to do the end of year accounts we realised that all prices seemed to have risen around 10% across the board so we spent much more than we had been allocated. As you know inflation is low at the moment so it seemed unlikely that everything would be shooting up 10% more. That is when we launched an internal investigation.” Fudge paused and took a sip from a glass of water on his desk.   
Harry nodded encouragingly.” What did the internal investigation conclude?”  
“That someone was distorting the billing process so that when the bills arrived here from all parts of the university they appeared 10% higher than they actually were.”  
“I don’t understand, how would that benefit anyone?”  
Fudge sighed “It was a very clever spell, the bills here appeared 10% higher than they should have done. We transferred those amounts to our suppliers but when the money was transferred only the real amount on the original invoice was paid. The remaining 10% was syphoned off to a private account.”  
“Was that account in the Cayman islands?” asked Severus.   
Fudge nodded. “We tried, of course, to find the holder of the account but it proved impossible. The Caymann Island authorities refused to tell us anything. “  
“It was a clever scheme,” observed Harry.  
“Very,”agreed Fudge. “We would have noticed the removal of 10% of the gold from our bank vault. But creaming the money off in this way attracted far less attention. If we hadn’t gone over budget we might not have noticed. “  
“How long had this be going on for?“ asked Harry  
“We don’t know,” admitted Fudge uneasily.  
“Was this the first year it had happened?” inquired Severus shrewdly.   
“We don’t know that either,” conceded Fudge.“We are reveiwing previous years account. My assistant can give you more details. “  
“So Lubricus was retained to investigate?”  
“That’s right,” confirmed Fudge. “We could have called the police but we wanted to avoid a scandal as..”  
“As you feared it was one of the staff,” concluded Harry.  
Fudge nodded.   
“Did you have any suspicions?”  
Fudge shook his head “No, my assistant may have done, I tend to deal with strategic planning rather than the day to day side of business. “  
“So what did Lubricus find?”  
“It was not an easy task. A very powerful magical spell was needed to perform this sort of complex financial fraud. He began by talking to all the staff who were budget holders as they had the sort of inside knowledge of the system needed to perpetuate this kind of fraud successfully. He also flew to the Cayman Island, at out expanse, “added Fudge with a grimace.   
“He tried to get the banking authorities in Caymans to provide more details of the account holders.”  
“Yes, “confirmed Fudge. “He was due to report to me a week or so ago. We had a quick firecall when he returned from the Caymans. He said that it had been an enlightening trip and he had some leads he wanted to follow up. He was due to come and see me at the end of last week. I was annoyed when he missed our appointment. The university is paying him a large monthly retainer, which in these circumstances, we can barely afford.”  
“So you have no idea what he found in the Cayman Islands? “  
Fudge shook his head.   
“Is there any more you can tell us?” asked Harry  
Fudge shook his head again. “Would you like to talk to my assistant? He has a better understanding of some of the details.”  
“That would be very helpful “agreed Harry.   
“Do have some coffee while you wait, “said Fudge. He clicked his fingers and a house elf appeared holding a tray with coffee and a selection of cakes.   
“Great,” said Harry his auror persona slipping for a moment and the hungry young man appearing.   
“I thought you eschewed magical trappings here in the interests of security,” said Severus snidely.  
Fudge appeared unoffended. “That is largely true but we draw the line at living without house elves in an institution like this. Who would do the cooking?” With that, Fudge swept out of the room.  
“Good to see that he is not allowing security to get in the way of his personal comforts,” muttered Severus sarcastically.  
“True, “said Harry. “But there is no point in letting the coffee and cakes go to waste,” he added as he prepared to tuck in.  
Severus relaxed and reached for a cup. 

For several minutes Severus was able to enjoy his coffee in peace and quiet whilst Harry sampled the different cakes. Fortunately, there was an abundance of napkins to clean up excess cream and jam. Severus contented himself with a small pastry.   
“You don’t have to eat them all Potter. It won’t be considered impolite if you leave some.”  
“Yeah, but I don’t want to upset these German house elves.”  
Severus rolled his eyes.  
“So, “said Harry swallowing his like piece of cake. “What do you think?”  
“Of Fudge’s account?”  
Harry nodded.  
“Well it fits with what we have found so far. The trip to the Cayman’s etc. But I have never heard of a spell that would do what he describes.”  
Harry nodded. “Me neither but fraud isn’t my speciality.”  
“We could do with some expert input,“ said Severus “Do the Gottingen aurors have a financial expert?”  
Harry shook his head. “Don’t worry we will ask Ron. We’ll get in touch with him later this evening. He knows all about this stuff”   
Severus looked a little confused.  
“Bill’s in Gringotts and he has taken a specaisl course in fraud, ” Harry reminded him.  
As Severus nodded, the door at the back of the room reopened. Fudge entered followed by the man Severus had been introduced to as Fudge’s assistant at the wandlore society. As Severus recalled the chap, who was extremely well covered, was also working on some famous mathematical hypothesis.  
“Crassus, can I introduce Mr Harry Potter, currently working with the Gottingen aurors.”  
Crassus smiled warmly. “Mr Potter, I am delighted to meet you, the wizarding world owes you great debt.”  
Harry made the usual depreciating noises.  
“I have some business to attend to you in the library “said Fudge. Severus then remembered that Fudge was also the librarian of the university’s collection of magical texts. “Professor Crassus will, I am sure, be able to fill you in on any additional information on our problem. Lubricus kept him in close touch with the investigation. “  
“Thank you Profesoor Fudge,” Harry gave a polite bow.  
Fudge nodded and disappeared.  
“Do sit down, “ said Harry to Crassus. “Did Professor Fudge explain why we are here?”  
“He explained that the ex-auror, who we had retained to look into our little local difficulty, had been murdered. But I cannot imagine that anyone here would be involved even if they were guilty of fraud.”  
“Were the sums of money involved large?” asked Severus.  
“10% on top of a budget of 5 tons of gold.”  
“A significant amount,” concluded Severus.  
“Did the problem only start this year? Professor Fudge said you were conducting some additional investigations?” inquired Harry flipping open his notebook,  
“ I have started to look at previous years. I am afraid to say that it appears that we have also been defrauded in the previous two years. “  
“How did this go unnoticed?” demanded Severus.  
“Two reasons,” said Crassus promptly. “The rake off was much smaller in previous years only about 3% and it did not lead us to go over budget.”  
“Someone has got greedy” said Severus.  
Crassus nodded, “That was my conclusion.”  
“Can you tell me about Lubricus’ investigation?”  
“Well Professor Fudge retained him in May after the end of year board meeting and our discovery of the original loss. Lubricus arrived and interviewed everyone.”  
“Who’s everyone?” asked Harry.   
“Professor Fudge, myself, the head of science, mathematical sciences and history of magic.”  
“Why those three?” inquired Harry.  
“Because they were the budget holders.”  
“Could it been someone else?”  
Crassus nodded his head rapidly, “Anyone who had knowledge of the financial system. The most likely suspect of course was me in the finance department.”  
“Was it you?” asked Harry bluntly.   
Crassus shook his head, “Lubricus investigated me pretty thoroughly and cleared me. Professor Fudge will confirm it.”  
“Do you know if he had anyone in mind?” asked Severus.   
Crassus nodded “I think so, I saw him briefly after he got back from the Cayman’s. He seemed excited, energised. I spoke to him on a firecall and he was due to speak to Professor Fudge the following week.”  
“But he never turned up.”  
Crassus nodded “Professor Fudge was really put out because his diary is very busy and he felt he had wasted an hour.” He paused for a moment. “Was he dead, is that why he didn’t turned up?”  
Harry hesitated and then nodded. “We believe so but our investigations are still at an early stage. “  
“Poor man,” said Crassus. “What a waste, he was so full of life and keen to drive forward his contracting business. I hope you get whoever did it.”  
Harry nodded “We will do our best. Now, is it possible for you to arrange interviews with the people Lubricus spoke to?”  
Crassus thought for a moment. “The easiest way to meet them all would be to introduce you at high table tonight. Could you stay until then?”  
Severus assumed Harry would simply demand Crassus take them to their respective offices immediately.  
Harry paused for a moment. “Yes that would be great, providing we can interview each one separately after dinner.”  
Crassus nodded eagerly “They are all night owls. They often stay chatting in the common rooms for several hours.”  
“Good. What time is high table?”  
“About 7 o clock.””  
Harry glanced at his watch and then at Severus. “I am sure that we can wandered round Berlin for an hour or so.”  
Severus gave short nod.   
Crassus smiled. “Great, I’ll let the kitchens and the Regsitrar know.”

Five minutes later they were back on the pavement outside the university.  
“I am surprised you agreed to that,” said Severus.   
“I’m sorry,” said Harry immediately. “Did you need to get back to Gottingen?”  
“No, I just assumed that due process would mean you needed to interview everyone separately. “  
“Oh, we will,” Harry reassured him “But after dinner. Kingsley always says that it can be very useful to watch suspects interact with each other in a formal setting. It can be very revealing.”  
Severus nodded impressed. “So how would you like to use our spare time?”  
“Hermione said I really ought to see the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag building if I was in Berlin.”  
“Important buildings in muggle history, “ agreed Severus “But not today I’m afraid. It is at least 40 minutes back to the centre of Berlin and we only have just over an hour. “  
“Yeah we don’t want to be late for high table,” agreed Harry. “So what about the botanical gardens?”  
Severus’ eyes gleamed. “That would be acceptable” he acknowledged.  
Harry groaned. “You’re going to steal lots of rare clipping aren’t you?”  
“I am going to study the holdings very carefully,” agreed Severus.  
“Well just don’t get us arrested by the muggle police as that will be hard to explain to the office.”  
“There’s no chance that will happened, “said Severus, the old arrogant Severus Snape appearing for a moment.   
Harry rolled his eyes. “Come on then, but I’m not hiding dirty clippings in my robes during dinner,” Harry warned.   
“That will not be necessary,” promised Severus. “I can do better than that.”

The gardens were beautiful maybe not quite as good as Kew but full of fascinating specimens. Harry accompanied Severus on his explorations for about twenty minutes but he soon began to fidget as Severus paused to look at yet another plant. Severus was about to snap and tell him to grow up, when he glanced at Harry’s face. It was very pale and Severus recalled that it had only been that morning that the boy had been discharged from hospital.   
“Maybe we should have just gone for a coffee, “he murmured putting his hand on Harry’s forehead.   
“I’m fine Severus, I could just do with a power nap.”  
“Power nap?”  
“Yeah a quick forty minutes in afternoon.”  
No wonder appointments with the Minister for Magic were so hard to get, thought Severus. He was spending every afternoon asleep on that comfortable looking sofa in his office. Nice for some. Headmasters of Hogwarts certainly never had the time for an afternoon nap, not even Albus, who given his age, must certainly have needed one.  
“So where do you propose to power nap?” asked Severus curiously.   
Harry pointed to an areas of grass under a tree.   
“They will think you have collapsed and call an ambulance, “warned Severus.   
“I’ll use my invisibility cloak,” promised Harry.

For the next half hour Severus indulged himself. He wandered through open gardens and lawns and into the huge majestic greenhouses. He transfigured a log into a small box and he collected valerian for headaches, Golden Pothos which was useful in a mild sleeping drought, fungi for protection against flu. The box was nearly full when he looked at his watch and realised almost thirty minutes had passed. He headed back towards the tree where Harry had planned to take his nap. There was no sign of the boy. Severus sent a searching spell across the lawn. A small blue flare indicated the presence of a small lump. Severus targeted the area with a tickling spell.  
“Stop it,” said a sleepy voice a minute later.   
Severus cancelled the spell and a head appeared from underneath the invisibility cloak.   
“Time to go Potter.”  
Harry stretched. “Is any of the garden still intact?”  
“I am well stocked for next winter,” admitted Severus. “Come, I do not want to be late for high table. We will need to freshen up before we meet people.”  
Severus turned and headed for the exit. Harry staggered slowly after him. At the entrance to the gardens Severus placed the box next to a distinctive looking red leafed tree and cast an invisibility spell.   
“We will collect it on our way to the station.”


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 9  
They were back in the university reception with 10 minutes to spare. Harry sent a patronus to Crassus who rapidly appeared and happily showed them to the bathrooms to freshen up.   
“What’s your strategy?” inquired Severus as he attempted to ease the soil out from under his nails.  
“So, first part of dinner, I’m going to keep it informal. There will be the usual “ooh your Harry Potter” moments and they’ll want to learn about the investigation. People will introduce themselves and probably say a bit about their work. I want to keep it really relaxed and informal until after dinner and they retire for coffee. Then we will start to move to formal individual interviews. “  
“What do you want me to do?”  
“Watch people reactions to me, to the discussion of the case and to each other. “  
Severus nodded, “See who is concerned, frightened, overly interested?”  
“Exactly. Will you be able to tell who is lying?”  
“Maybe. But these people are likely to be very skilled occulmens. I could certainly get no reading from Fudge.”  
“Well anything you can do. I am also looking for motivation. Insights that come from the discussion which reveal pressure points in people’s lives that might have led them to embezzle the money or clues that they have the skills and background to do so. Anything you can do to help me steer the conversation in that direction would be helpful.”  
Severus nodded as they left the bathroom.

“If you would like to come this way,” said Crassus. “The other are enjoying a pre-dinner drink.”  
Severus had been expecting something like the Great Hall at Hogwarts instead Crassus showed them into a small elegant dining room with Indian rugs , a long table and window at one end of the room overlooking the university gardens. Instead of oak panelling, the walls were pale which gave it a light and airy feel. Fudge was chatting to some colleagues near the window.  
Crassus appeared to have noticed Harry’s surprise.  
“The university does, of course, have a traditional dining hall, but that is for all the students muggles and otherwise. The magical faculty likes to be able to dine as a separate high table. On occasion, they do join their muggle colleagues but conversation is rather constrained,” Crassus explained, steering them towards Fudge.   
Severus felt several sets of eyes run over himself and Harry and unsurprisingly he heard more than one “It’s Harry Potter!” Fudge had clearly decide not to brief his guests in advance.  
“Professor Fudge, our guests,” said Crassus   
Fudge turned with a tight smile.   
“Glad you could join us. It is time for dinner to be served, let me show you to your seats and I will do introductions when everyone is settled.”  
“Mr Potter, you are on my right, your colleague is next to Prof Crassus at the far end of the table.” Fudge seated himself in the centre of the table facing the door.   
Severus followed Crassus to the end of the table at the far left of the room and found himself with his back to the window. In addition to himself, Harry, Crassus and Fudge there were four other diners. He recognised Trank and Calista from the wandlore society. They must be the heads of Science/potions and langauges.  
“Ladies and gentleman can I introduce you to Mr Harry Potter, currently on secondment to the Gottingen aurors and his assistant Wilhelm,” Fudge gestured towards Severus without looking at him.  
Everyone nodded politely. The two professors that Severus had never met smiled widely.   
“On your right, at the head of the table is Calista, our head of wizarding languages and an expert on the muggle classical languages of Latin and Greek,” continued Fudge.  
Calista nodded politely to Harry ignoring Severus completely. “Doesn’t acknowledge subordinates,” thought Severus. “No wonder she reminds me to Narcissa.”  
“Seated directly across from you Mr Potter is Van Fabula, head of history of magic and an expert in the history of muggle Germanic people.”  
“Mr Potter,” said Fabula jumping up from his seat and stretching out his hand. He ignored Fudge’s annoyance at being interrupted. “What an absolute honour to meet you.”  
“A pleasure,” said Harry politely shaking the proffered hand.   
The man next to Fabula had also jumped up. “You cannot imagine how we have all longed to meet you. You must join my wine tasting group if you are staying in Berlin. We have such an interesting group, Johan is starring at the Festival Hall in the new…. ”  
“Professor Coactor, head of arithmancy” said Fudge clearly annoyed. “So sit down Coactor, you’ll pull Mr Potter’s arm off if you are not careful.”  
Undaunted, Coactor sat down but continued to smile widely at Harry. He also proffered his hand to Severus who shook it briefly. “Slughorn to a tee,” thought Severus.  
“And finally,” said Fudge to Professor Coactor’s right is Professor Trank head of science and a potions master.”  
“Good evening,” said Trank politely nodding at Harry and then Severus.   
“You know, Proffessor Crassus of course,” Fudge remarked nodding to the man seated to his left. “Now what have they cooked for us this evening Crassus?”  
“Onion soup followed by salmon and the lamb.”  
“To your liking I hope, Mr Potter?”  
“I am sure it will be wonderful,” said Harry with a genuine smile.  
There was a moment’s pause which Coactor seized with alacrity.   
“Mr Potter, it is rare that we get such eminent visitors who can gives us a personal account of recent events. We here spend most of our lives buried in the academic mysteries which we are researching Would it be too much of an imposition if we asked you to tell us about the defeat of Voldemort and the search for the Hocruxes?”  
Unbelievably, predictable, thought Severus. Even academics are not immune to the Potter legend.   
The first course and the fish course were entirely devoted to Harry’s, now much polished and edited, narrative of the search for the horcruxes and the final battle. This was punctuated by oohs and ahs from Fabula and Coactor in the appropriate places. Calista, whilst saying very little, was also clearly interested and watched Harry closely. A little too closely for Severus liking and wondered if she realised he was married. However, she must be much closer to Severus age than Harry’s. Trank concentrated on his food but glanced at Harry from time to time in a polite sort of way.  
Harry always finished his story with an account of him retiring to his bed in Gryffindor tower and getting Kreacher to fetch him a sandwich. As on other occasions, this drew the customary chuckle from his listeners and the story to a light hearted close. Harry never mentioned his rescues of Severus from the Shrieking Shack.  
Fabula and Coactor clapped their hands.  
“What a wonderful account,” said Coactor.  
“Really brings it to life, “said Fabula. Severus could see him taking metal notes for a future modern history book.  
Harry smiled his thanks.   
“Your adventures, have not led you to seek a peaceful life,” observed Calista. “I understand you are now training to be an auror.”  
She had provided the perfect opening for Harry’s next topic, realised Severus. He wondered if that was deliberate.   
“Indeed, I am getting towards the end of my training and on secondment to the aurors in Gottingen,” said Harry smoothly, finishing his fish, which Severus had to admit was well cooked.  
Throughout the account of the Dark Lord’s defeat, Severus had noticed that Fudge was becoming increasingly restless. Unused to being deprived of the limelight, Severus had concluded. Now it appeared that Fudge could contain his impatience no longer and was eager to get down to business.   
“Perhaps , “ said Fudge acidly. “You might like to explain to my colleagues why you have chosen to visit us today.   
“Why Fredrick,” drawled Calista. “Are you saying Mr Potter has some ulterior motive and that his appearance as a guest at our dinner table was not just your idea to liven up our evening?”   
Fudge threw her a sharp look. “I am of, course Calista dear, always looking at ways to broaden our horizons and I would certainly have invited Mr Potter if I had known he was in Gottingen. But I’m afraid our education is not Mr Potter prime motive in gracing us with his presence this evening.” Fudge turned to Harry as if to say over to you.   
Harry unfazed by Fudge’s intervention, finished his last mouthful of salmon, put down his knife and fork, and took a sip of water.   
“I always enjoy an interesting discourse,” said Harry smoothly “But I’m afraid Professor Fudge is correct. I do have an ulterior motive.” He smiled warmly at Calista.  
“My secondment to Gottingen has been marked by an unexpected event.”  
“Unexpected event,” repeated Coactor.  
“Hardly uncommon, for you,” said Fabula in a misjudged attempt at levity.  
Harry nodded at him. “Shortly after my arrival in Gottingen the body of a former retired auror was discovered.”  
“I take it he did not die a natural death,” said Trank.   
“No, he did no,” admitted Harry.  
“We had an auror visit us here, what was his name?” said Fabula pretending to forget.  
“Lubricus,” said Calista sharply watiching Harry closely.” Was it him?”  
Harry nodded.  
Did she know already? wondered Severus. Given she knew him, she did not appear distressed.  
“Poor man,” said Coactor with exactly the amount of sincerity Severus would have expected. “Can you tell us how he died?”  
“He’ll not do that,” said Trank.   
“Mr Potter is here to try to learn what we know,” snapped Calista.   
“Surely you don’t think….” said Fabula, pretending to be affronted.   
“Do knock it off Van. You of all people know how an auror investigation works.”   
Fabula threw her a furious look. “No need to rake over old incidents, Calista darling.”  
“Is there anything you can tell us Mr Potter?” asked Trank calmly.   
“He was found in the river washed up by Beuren,” announced Harry.   
Severus detected no palpable reaction from any of them.  
“So what do you to want from us?” inquired Calista. “I assume we are suspects?”  
“These are simply routine inquiries,” Harry reassured her. “I want to hear from each of you: what he said and what you thought of him. Different and insightful views of the victim can be useful.”  
A point for Potter on the flattery front, thought Severus, as Fabula and Coactor preened themesleves. Calista looked sceptical.  
“How do you want to do this Mr Potter or are you planning to drag us all down to auror headquarters after dinner?” suggested Calista.   
“Nothing so dramatic,” said Harry. “I suggest we finish our dinner in peace and I will talk to each of you privately over coffee, if everyone is in agreement.”  
There was a low murmur of assent followed by an awkward silence.   
“Perhaps you could all give us some insight into your work, It is rare that we have an opportunity to interview such learned people,” suggested Harry.  
Severus thought Harry had gone too far but the move back to the academic arena lead to a collective sigh of relief.  
“You should tell him about your research project Van, “said Trank. “An insight into wizarding behaviour and morality if ever there was one.”  
Fabula sat back in his seat smiled. “Calista and I are working on a joint venture. We are translating and interpreting wizarding writings from the mid-12th century that have been found in South America.”  
Severus raised an eyebrow this sounded more interesting than the tripe Binns dished up for the students. Harry’s interest seemed to have been piqued.  
“ Sounds most interesting,” commented Harry.  
Calista dropping her normal sneer nodded. “The language is proving a challenge in places,” she agreed.   
“We will be the first to proide a detailed picture of life in that civilization,” said Fabula proudly. “Unique insights into a unique culture.”  
“It was very different to Europe, at the time?” aked Harry who was quite obviously trying to recall anything useful from his history of magic owl.   
“Extremely,” said Coactor drily. “We have nightly updates,” he added by way of explanation.  
Severus noticed that Crassus’ lip was curled in distain.   
“You find it uninteresting? “inquired Severus mildly.   
Crassus looked at him, “I do not see the value of studying ancient degenerates.”  
“One cannot judge ancient history by our standards,” said Fabula gently. “You are too much of a purist. Too focused on those strange numbers of yours.”  
Crassus and Coactor raised their eyesbrows.   
“We are working on one of the greatest challenges known to mankind: wizard and muggle,” snapped Crassus. “The Riemann hypothesis. You do not understand the sheer scale of the challenge...”  
“Maybe, “said Fabula. “But what practical use will it be?”  
“You to talk of partical use!” snapped Crassus.  
“Crassus,” said Coactor attempting to intercede.   
“The study of unique civilisations can have important lessons for today’s society,” pointed out Fabula.  
“What was so unique about them?” inquired Harry.   
“They were all junkies,” snapped Crassus.  
Harry opened his mouth in surprise.   
“They made and regularly took what we would now consider to be class A drugs,” admitted Fabula.   
“You feel there are lessons to be learnt from their experience?” observed Severus neutrally.   
“Well there is certainly one major lesson, “said Coactor. “They made a lot of money through trade. They were one of the wealthiest civilisation of their time.”  
“We should be decrying the way they lived,” snarled Crassus now completely overwrought.   
Trank looked uneasily at Crassus, “ Walter would you like…”  
“I don’t any of your damn potions! Some of those are borderline illegal as well.”  
Trank sat back.  
“Walter,” said Fudge gently. “You must not take everything so personally. “  
“Excuse me,” snapped Crassus jumping up. “I need some air”. He swept quickly from the room.   
After a moment’s pause Fudge took a sip of wine.   
“You must forgive my colleague. Professor Crassus has, I am afraid, been severely affected by a drug abuse incident. He is very anti-drugs as a result,” explained Fudge. “You should know better than to provoke him, “he added sternly to Fabula.  
Van shrugged and picked up his pudding spoon.  
Severus could see Harry searching for a way to break the tension.   
“Professor Coactor, do I understand that you and Professor Crassus are working together on a mathematical challenge?”  
Coactor smiled and discussion during the chocolate gateaux was reduced to a monologue as Coactor attempted to explain the basic principles of the Riemann hypothesis.

After desert, there was no pause for port, instead they moved quickly into an adjacent sitting room for coffee. Ten or so leatherback comfortable armchairs were arranged in a circle around a multitude of oak polished coffee tables.  
Crassus was seated calmly in a chair by the window reading the evening paper. When his gaze met Harry’s, it held no trace of embarrassment instead he looked almost unnaturally calm.   
Potion for his nerves, concluded Severus.   
“Mr Potter, Mr Braun can I get you some coffee? “   
“Eh, yes that would be great,” said Harry.  
“Black, no milk or sugar,” directed Severus.  
“Do take a seat,” said Crassus gesturing vaguely around the room.  
“Mr Potter,” said Fudge unable to resist an opportunity to interfere. “There is a small office just across the hall. Would you and your colleague like to take your coffee in there and you can invite members of the faculty to join you one at a time?”  
If Harry resented the attempt to organise his investigation, he gave no sign of it.   
“A perfect plan, Professor,” he paused. “Perhaps we could start with Miss Dives?”  
“Certainly,” said Fudge as Crassus handed Harry his coffee. “Do follow me.”  
The office was clearly someone’s private study. The bookshelves were overflowing but the wooden desk was clear and the chairs were comfortable.   
“Perfect,” said Harry again. “Now if you wouldn’t mind giving myself and Mr Braun a couple of minutes to settle ourselves and then send in Miss Dives”  
“Certainly,” repeated Fudge.  
Harry breathed out as Fudge left the room. “I think I have indigestion,” he complained. “All that tension at dinner doesn’t agree with me.”  
Severus, a veteran of having dinner with the Dark Lord shrugged.  
Harry looked round the room. The office was quite large. There were three comfortable chairs around a coffee table as well as the desk and chairs.   
“Given dinner, I think we need to shift to a more formal approach. Let’s use the desk. “   
“Do you want me to take notes?” suggested Severus. Harry looked a little surprised and embarrassed. “If you wouldn’t mind that would be great.”  
“It is always hard to take notes and conduct an effective interrogation.”  
Harry looked a little uneasy.   
“I found that out as Hogwarts Headmaster,” Severus added quickly lest Harry was thinking of his service to the Dark Lord. “How do you plan to approach the interviews?”  
“These are just the preliminaries so just the basic stuff: when did Lubricus interview them, what did he cover, where were they on the key night, what’s the size of their departmental budget do they administer it themselves, have they been aboard recently, where are their family based?”  
“I assume those last questions are designed to identify links to the Caymans?”  
“Of course,” said Harry.  
“The person with the account will lie of course, “ pointed out Severus.  
“Probably,” agreed Harry. “But it will be dangerous for them to lie about a trip abroad which was publically known.”  
Severus nodded.  
“Plus the one they will all hate: can we see your bank records?” Harry added.  
“Do you really think any of them will volunteer that without a court order?”  
Harry shrugged “Worth a try. We don’t have enough on any of them to get a court order to access their accounts or at least not yet.”  
“And my role, apart from notetaker? “  
“Same as at dinner. Try to judge if they are lying. Did you pick up anything at dinner that suggested someone was lying?”  
Severus shook his head. “I couldn’t get good eye contact”  
Harry nodded. “So sit next to me at the desk.”

Severus nodded, he picked up a chair and put it next to Harry’s behind the desk. He had just seated himself when the door opened. Calista Dives glided elegantly into the room and paused and couple of metres from the desk.  
Harry jumped up.   
“Do sit down,” he gestured to a chair.   
She gave a short laugh.   
“It like being summoned before the Dean, that has not happened since I was a student.”  
She’s decided on gentle flirtation rather than aggressive hostility, thought Severus. But was Harry too young to handle her and how would she react to that?  
“Thank you for agreeing to help us. I know it can be a nerve wracking experience.”  
Calista shrugged.  
“Well we won’t keep you long. “ Harry promised. “I’d like to start with some background,” he explained. “You’re head of magical languages. What is your role with regard to muggle students?”  
“I teach Latin and Greek.”  
“Do you have a lot of students?”  
“40 wizards and 50 muggles.”  
She didn’t ramble, didn’t add extraneous details. Severus wondered if she had been interviewed by the aurors before.   
“Do you enjoy it?” asked Harry sounding genuinely curious.   
She shrugged again. “Most of them are educationally subnormal, but it funds my research so I have learnt to put up with the situation.”   
“When did Lubricus interview you?”  
“Sometime in late July, I would need to check my calendar to be more precise.”  
“Had you been told why he had been commissioned to do so?”  
“My dear boy. We all knew. We’d all been at the board meeting when Fudge and the odious Crassus had discovered the money was missing.”  
“Why do you call him odious?” inquired Harry momentarily distracted.  
“”I dislike mathematics at the best of time, financial adminstrators are dull but I also dislike losers.”  
“Losers?” repeated Harry.  
“Crassus used to be a drug user until Fudge dragged him out of the gutter and cleaned him up.”  
“So that’s why he reacted badly at dinner.”  
“He nodded can’t bare to be reminded. Trank has to stuff him full of calming potion.”  
Retracing his steps, Harry returned to the subject in hand. “So you agreed to be interviewed? What did Lubricus cover?”  
“My budget, who administered it, did I know anything about the embezzlement. The sort of questions you would expect. Probably the sort of questions you’re about to ask me next.”  
Harry smiled, “Probably.”  
He is either not fully immune to her charm or he is playing her along skilfully, thought Severus.  
“Did he give you any information about the others he had interviewed or what he had found?”  
“No, but surely you would not have expected him to do so?”  
“I wouldn’t,” agreed Harry “But sometimes even the most skilled investigators slip up.”  
Calista gave a nod as if to concede Harry’s point.  
“You are responsible for the budget for wizarding languages?”  
Calista nodded. “I am.”  
“You administer it yourself?”  
“I am not fortunate enough to have an assistant.”  
“Are you aware of any trips abroad your colleagues might have taken in the last year?”  
Calista appeared unsurprised by the question and shook her head. “I am not aware of any such trips and nor, as I told Lubricus, have I taken any myself.”  
Harry nodded. “Have you noticed anyone showing unusual signs of wealth?”  
Calista shook her head. “I don’t like any of them particularly but none of them is stupid,” she pointed out.   
“Would you be prepared to allow us to examine your private bank accounts?”  
For a moment Severus was sure she was going to refuse but then she paused.   
“Why not? I have nothing to hide.”  
“Good, “said Harry “We will ask you for the details in due course. We are nearly finished,” he added pretending to look at his notebook.   
“Where were you on the night of 1 September?”  
“Was that when he was killed?”  
“I am not at liberty to say,” said Harry.   
Her lip curled. “May I check my diary and come back to you?”  
“Of course, “said Harry. “My final question. Do you know who embezzled the funds?”  
“No”  
“No suspicions?”   
Calista paused for a moment. “No. None. Nor do I know who killed Lubricus.”

“Yes I am afraid, poor old Crassus has been very upset by our research project,” observed Fabula. “A total over reaction. In history we don’t just research the topics which are morally suitable otherwise no one would ever study Grindelwald or Hitler in muggle history.”  
Fabula took a sip of the red wine he had brought into the office with him. “He’s a bit unbalanced I think. Doesn’t like Calista at the best of times. I don’t think working on this Riemann hypothesis thing with Coactor helps either. Not sure their getting anywhere.”  
“He does a good job with the finance though?” confirmed Harry.   
“I’m no accountant, “said Van quickly. “But he seems to do a reasonable job. He spotted the money going missing, on the other hand that would that be a good cover story and who better to siphon off the money. I have to say I would have thought that if anyone deserved a full investigation it would be him. “  
“Are you suggesting that Professor Crassus embezzled the money?” asked Harry mildly.   
“No I’m certainly not saying that! I am just pointing out that if I had been Lubricus, I would have investigated him very thoroughly.”  
“Did Lubricus suggest to you that was what he was going to do?”  
Fabula shook his head “Not directly no. But he questioned me pretty closely about our boy Crassus, as well as the usual questions about the way university funds are administered , whether I had been aboard at all, which I thought was a strange question. “  
“So Lubricus didn’t give you any indication of the way his investigation was going?”   
Fabula shook his head decisively.  
“No he was closed lipped. I found him rather unpleasant to be honest. Not one of us if you know what I mean.”  
Severus felt Harry tense a little at this academic snobbery.   
“He got on well with Trank I think but then Trank gets on well with everyone, even Crassus, always propping him up and dosing him with some calming potion or other. I thought Crassus was damn ungrateful tonight.”  
“So Trank and Crassus are good friends?” inquired Harry.  
“I wouldn’t say that,” said Fabula reflectively. “Although their families were both in trade, so I suppose their backgrounds are similar,” observed Fabula pettily.

“Access to my bank accounts?” said Coactor apparently astounded. “Whatever for?”  
“Routine,” said Harry smoothly.  
“I don’t see how it can have any bearing on what is after all a murder investigation.”  
“We are concerned that there may be a link between the embezzlement of university funds and the murder.”  
“Not sure why,” said Coactor. “Seems two different types of crimes altogether. “   
“Well if you could think it over,” asked Harry.   
“Have you asked Fudge?” inquired Coactor. “Seems to me he’s been getting off very lightly in all this.”  
“We are asking everyone,” confirmed Harry.  
“Fudge won’t like that,” said Coactor with a smirk. “Won’t want you pouring over all his expenses.”  
“A big spender?” asked Harry.   
“Loves his little luxuries, does Fredrick,” said Coactor callously. “Sorry don’t like him I’m afraid. Leads poor Crassus a hell of a life. That’s part of Crassus’ problem. Fudge undermines his confidence at every turn.”  
“What’s the other part of Crassus problem?” interjected Severus curiously.  
Coactor paused. “He had a bad time after he graduated. Mother died. Father went bankrupt. Family reputation meant he couldn’t get a job, so he joined a muggle firm. He was lonely and fell in with the wrong crowd, started taking drugs,” he paused. “Fudge helped him,got him off the drugs , got him a job,” Coactor admitted. “Problem is Fudge now seems to think he owns him.”  
Severus knew that feeling.  
“You get on well with Professor Crassus? “ continued Harry.  
“Same research projects so obviously we see a lot of each other. We’d be making more progress if Fudge wasn’t keeping his nose to the grind stone in the accounts department. He’s extra wound up at the moment of course.”  
“Why’s that? “ asked Harry.   
“Well with him working in the accounts department and being a mathematical expert. Everyone assumes that he was well placed to do this embezzlement.”  
“Don’t they have the same view of you?” asked Harry.  
Coactor shrugged, “Probably not. Of course I have the same background in mathematic spells but my family is well know in the region. “  
Harry looked confused. Severus coughed.  
“I think Professor Coactor is suggesting that it is well known that his family has money so he is less open to suspicion.”  
“Oh I see, “said Harry his face clearing. “Is that why you are worried about giving us access to your accounts?”  
Coactor sighed. “Alright, I’ll grant you access, but you do realise that if I wanted to embezzle funds neither you nor that dope Lubricus would find any trace in my accounts. I am much too skilful for that.”  
“You though Lubricus was a dope?”  
“Not the sharpest tack in the box. Spent ages asking me about my summer holiday in the Caribbean. My family has had a house there since the 19th century. We summer there every year.”

“I was able to tell him I hadn’t been abroad recently, Coactor goes off relatively regularly, but I like to stay in Berlin during the vacations, enjoy the peace and quiet,” explained Trank “I do travel a bit within Germany of course collecting potions ingredients and what have you. I normally encourage my muggle colleagues to travel to the international chemistry conferences.”  
“What did you think of Lubricus?”  
“Oh sharp enough I think, his questions were a bit plodding but he was through. Infact I got the impression that he cultivated the image of the plodding auror to lull us into a false sense of security. I am guessing he was a pretty effective auror in his day. Would I be right?”  
Harry hesitated and then nodded. “Yes he was. “  
“The sort of person that always got his man in the end.”  
“He had a reputation for delivering, “agreed Harry.  
“I would imagine, that the aurors are pulling out all the stops to track down his murderer?”  
Harry nodded.  
“Infact I am slightly surprised they gave it to a young outsider, however famous. Or did they want a fresh neutral pair of eyes?”  
“Yeah, they did,” admitted Harry.   
“Are you going to ask to see our bank accounts?” Trank inquired.  
“We are hoping people will agree voluntarily.”  
Trank nodded. “Let me know what you need and I will give the necessary authorisation.”  
“Do you have any idea who might have done the embezzlement, “   
Trank hestitated and then shrugged his shoulders. “Hard to tell. It was a nifty bit of spellwork,”  
Harry nodded.  
“Of course, it doesn’t follow that the embezzler was the murderer. I assume you are pursuing other lines of inquiry,”  
“We are,” admitted Harry.  
“Is there anything else you want to cover?”  
“Not at the moment,” said Harry “We may need to interview you again as our inquiries progress. But you are free to go. “  
Trank heaved himself out of chair, his potion stained fingers clutching the arms. Once standing, he put his hand of the desk infont of him and touched Harry’s wand with his right index finger.   
“The infamous wand that defeated Voldemort?” he said.   
“It played an important part, “said Harry gripping his wand firmly and easing it back across the desk.   
Trank removed his hands and put them inside his robe. He stepped slowly towards the door.  
“Rumour has it that Voldemort was defeated by the Elder Wand. Amazing what rumours come out of great battles.”  
“Amazing,” agreed Harry quietly.  
“We run a wandlore society in Gottingen, you know. Fudge chairs it. A good place to meet up with colleagues from other universities. You want to come along one evening.” 

Severus had made hot chocolate for both of them. It was a luxury brand that he had bought from a local market during a Sunday excursion. He did not usually favour such a sugary drink. He was more of an expresso man himself. Harry of course loved it. However, given it was nearly midnight he was abstaining from coffee. He also felt he and Harry deserved something comforting after their long day. They had finished interviewing Trank at around 9.30. But by the time they had got back to Gottingen it was 11.30. Harry was crouched infront of the fire staring at the flames.  
“So what did you think?” he asked as Severus put the hot chocolate on the table.   
“Of the interviews?”  
Harry nodded.  
“They are a difficult bunch to read,” conceded Severus. “But you would expect that, they are some of the brightest wizards in Europe.”  
“Who did you think was lying?” pressed Harry.  
“All of them,” said Severus.   
“Everyone lies about something,” said Harry “That’s what Kingsley always says. It determining what they are lying about and whether it is material to the case that is the tricky bit”  
Severus nodded in agreement. “Why don’t you give me your impressions first?” Severus suggested.  
“Calista and Fabula don’t like Crassus. Fabula did his best to throw suspicion on to Crassus even if he denied that’s what he was doing. Fabula’s also a snob, but I don’t suppose we can hold that against him.”  
“No. But it probably explains the joint project with Calista. Her family’s one of the German aristocracy, very wealthy. Even survived the war with Grindelwald.”  
“How do you know?” asked Harry surprised.   
Severus hesitated. “I looked her up after the meeting at the wandlore society.”  
“She’s quite beautiful,” said Harry with a sly grin which disappeared quickly when Severus threw a cushion at him. “Her face is vaguely familiar,” Harry added throughtful.   
Severus wondered whether to mention the security file.  
“Coactor’s also wealthy, “ continued Harry.  
“Yes it was a little odd he thrust that down our throats. I wondered if he wanted to draw our attention to that for some reason. He was certainly concealing something.”  
“He was lying about his money?”  
“That is what I sensed,” admitted Severus.   
“I’ll look into it, “said Harry “He doesn’t like Fudge,” he added.  
“Another case of pointing of the finger, “agreed Severus. “Their blame throwing attempts were surprisingly crude for such clever people.”  
“Could be a good sign?” wondered Harry aloud.  
“Nervous innocents?” ruminated Severus. “Possibly. Not much contact with law enforcement.”  
Harry nodded.  
“Maybe. Although I had the impression Calista might have had run in with aurors before. Her answers were very precise as if she had been coached.”  
“That could be a bad sign,” said Harry with a yawn.   
“Time for bed, “decreed Severus.  
“Agreed. I need to get down to the office first thing.”  
“That is your plan for the morning?”  
“Yep, write up the interviews, check in with Peck and set some inquiries in train into the financial background of all those we interviewed and start the process of getting access to their bank accounts.”  
“If you can do without me I have an important meeting with a client tomorrow lunch time.”  
Harry nodded. “Wilhelm can call in sick, Can I borrow your notes of the interviews?”  
Severus nodded. “Hopefully you will beable to read my handwriting.”  
“Well, I’ve had plenty of practice, “said Harry. “You used to write more on my essays than I did when I was younger.”


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 10  
The thing that Severus disliked most about meeting muggle businessmen was the hotels. They always wanted to meet in the box like corporate hotels that their companies paid for. At least with wizards, you could go to some dingy bar packed full of character.   
This one was not far from the University of Gottingen and inappropriately named the Garden Hotel in spite of the fact that it was surrounded by a concrete car park. It looked like a converted office block. Inside was no better, a pine and glass reception area, a dining room with white clothes covering tables with metal legs.   
Severus had not, however, quibbled about the venue. This was probably his most important meeting of the year. He was lunching with a lowly member of the Kiwi Corporation. Severus knew enough about the corporate world to understand that they didn’t sell fruit. He had met a sales rep of theirs a few months ago at a conference and the man had been impressed by miraculum. This meeting was the result. He could tell Kiwi were interested as they had invite him to lunch and not the other way round. Even so, Severus wished that he could have chosen the restaurant.  
The appointment was the reason he had not pressed Harry to accompany him on today’s investigations. He wished he had more sleep. He had to get up at 6am to polish his presentation. For a meeting of this magnitude he would normally have spend the whole evening preparing. Severus had, of course, made this pitch many times before to many companies but the size of this contract was on an entirely different scale.  
Severus rang the extremely unoriginal looking bell on the reception desk.   
A woman who was entirely in keeping with the hotel, blond polished, characterless and corporate, appeared.  
“May I help you? “  
“I am here to see Mr Victorem,” said Severus.   
“Ah Mr Victorem? He asked us to show you straight to the dining room.”  
“Damn,” thought Severus. He had been expecting to make a full pitch in a conference room before lunch. Maybe they were not as interested as he thought.

In the dining room he was shown to a large table by the window. After ordering some sparkling water, he amused himself by watching the cars arrive in the carpark and trying to guess their make. Harry would probably be better at this game that he.  
“I am sorry to keep you waiting,” a surprisingly tall and thin looking America held out his hand. “You do speak English?”  
“Of course,” said Severus. “I am in fact English”  
“Fabulous. Do sit down. I am sorry I was not here to greet you. I was on a conference call with headquarters. I have only been away for five days. I would have thought they could have managed until I return.”  
“It is not a problem, “said Severus politely. If he had been a student, Severus would have given him a week’s detention. How times changed.  
“Have you had a chance to look at the menu? I always order the steak in these corporate monstrosities then I can ask for it done just the way I like.”  
Severus allowed himself a small smile. “I will have the salmon”  
Victorem beckoned to the waiter who scurried to the table immediately.   
“A medium steak, the salmon, and a bottle of your merlot.”  
Whilst Severus preferred to pitch his product in a traditional conference room, he had made his presentation in more informal setting on a number of occasions. He took a drink of water and prepared to begin.  
“Why don’t we wait until the end of the meal to talk business?” suggested Victorem.   
“As you wish, “agreed Severus with as little stiffness as he could muster.  
“I like to get know people over lunch, “explained Victorem.  
Severus ignored the warning bells in his brain and smiled as if he couldn’t think of a better way to spend a business lunch.   
For the next hour, Severus danced skilfully to his host’s tune. Questions about his time in Gottingen were followed by an inquisition into his life in Scotland, his education and his family. His cover story had been carefully constructed by Harry and himself when he had first settled in Gottingen and even quite detailed inquires back in the UK would support his story.  
Severus chose a sorbet for dessert, light and refreshing to the palate. Victorem chose the same.   
“We will have coffee in my suite,” said Victorem to the waiter.   
The suite was on the top floor, although still office block like, it commanded a good view of Gottingen.   
“Do have a seat,” said Victorem as a knock on the door heralded the arrival of a coffee pot and cups.  
Two arms chairs sat half facing the window and each other. Severus seated himself in the one closet to the wall.  
“Black? “inquired Victorem.  
“Please, “said Severus, opening his case and pulling out a folder.  
“I’m sorry I expect you would have preferred epxresso?”   
“Filter is fine.” Severus reassured him, lifting out a printed copy of his presentation. He really must invest in one of those laptop things.  
“Don’t bother with the papers, it won’t be necessary,” said Victorem.  
Severus kept his face blank. He had thought the atmospherics at lunch had been good but obviously he had misjudged the situation. He slid the paper back inside the folder and picked up his cup. At least, he would have the afternoon free to catch up with Harry and the investigation.  
“You don’t need to pitch me, “said Victorem. “I’ve already heard it and it’s impressive.”  
Severus looked momentarily puzzled.   
“I’m afraid I have not be entirely honest with you, we met a week ago in Dolce’s resturant, where you spent an hour explaining how miraculum worked to George Mallet in detail.”  
“Frank?” Severus’ face remained completely blank. Surely no muggle disguise and in case the height and.. Severus froze mid thought.  
“Policyjuice potion, I assume?”  
A smile and a nod. He reached into his jacket pulled out hip flask and toasted Severus.  
“You are an impressive occulmens,” Severus admitted.  
“I am,” Victorem agreed. “And I assume you are an impressive potions master?”  
Severus bowed his head.  
“I checked out your background after our previous encounters.”   
Severus remained motionless.  
“I sense a story there,” said Victorem “Your background checks out perfectly infact but a little too logical and ordered perhaps? Most people’s lives have a few gaps and hiccups.”  
Severus remained silence.  
“But frankly I want this product, so I just want to know. Are you wanted by the police or the aurors?”  
Severus shook his head  
“Did you obtain this product illegally?”  
Severus shook his head again. He looked Victorem in the eye. “It is all my own work.”  
Victorem nodded. “That’s what I thought. In which case we have a deal. All we need to do is work out how to employ enough wizards to make the stuff to supply it in the sort of quantities needed by Kiwi.”

Harry was at home staring at the take away menus when Severus arrived back at the flat.  
“A take away would be prefect. I ate far too much for lunch,” said Severus by way of greeting.  
“You’re just going to order too little and then steal mine,” complained Harry. He paused before adding, “How was your day?”  
“Very productive,” replied Severus decisively.  
“Made a lucrative deal?” asked Harry who still only gad a hazy idea of what his father did.   
“Very,” said Severus with significant satisfaction. Then dragged his mind away from business. “More importantly how was your day. “  
“Good. I’ve lots to tell you but shall we order first?”  
“By all means,” agreed Severus. “I am looking forward to an early night after yesterday.”  
Harry order a quarter of duck, pancakes and chicken chow mein. Severus ordered a small portion of chicken in black bean sauce.”  
Severus pushed all thoughts of Kiwi and contracts to the back of his mind and focused on the investigation.   
“It’s been a long 48 hours,” said Harry “I won’t bore you with all my briefing at headquarters this morning. The short version is that I made my report. They are accessing all the financial accounts for me to review. I got an update from Hanna on the auror visit to his ex-wife and family. The children were co-operative but the ex-wife refused to speak to the team without a lawyer. She’s apparently angry about the widow’s pension or lack of it as they had separated. Peck is going to see her personally in couple of days’ time with her lawyer present. “  
Severus nodded and poured himself a glass of wine.   
“This afternoon I began looking into the other cases Lubricus was working on.”  
Severus nodded again.   
“I managed to track down Leon Suche who had asked him to track down his missing father, a chap called Weber, who he thought might be in Berlin.”  
“You didn’t have to go back to Berlin did you?” said Severus.   
“No the guy is here in Gottingen he lives in Weende. He was there went I called, afternoon off apparently. It seems really straightforward, Lubricus interviewed him looked through his family documents and promised to get back to him but he never did. His father was thought to have died in the war with Grindelwald but Leon had got hold of some records to suggest he was treated in a hospital in at the end of the war.”  
“Dead end?”  
“Probably,” agreed Harry. “That’s’ probably why Lubricus didn’t get back to him most of his father’s family was killed in the war. I have got someone checking out the hospital angle to seem if Lubricus contacted them and asked for a record search.”  
“So what’s your next steps?”  
“Check out the other cases, the domestic surveillance and the security he was providing for a shopping centre, review the financial accounts of our Berlin professors, see what comes of Peck’s discussion with the ex-wife,” recounted Harry from his mental check list.  
Severus nodded “If you can manage without me again tomorrow, my new customer wants to see round the factory.   
“No problem,” said Harry “This is all routine stuff and Wilhelm’s attendance record is notoriously poor.”

“It is an impressive operation, “said Victorem after Severus had given him a tour of the factory except for the research facility. He was not misguided enough to show him that. Goodness know what unpatented ideas he might pick up. They were now back in Severus office drinking a special brew of French coffee. Severus had added a couple of herbs of his own to give it extra zing.  
Severus was relatively sure the remarks were genuine.   
“But small scale, “added Victorem “My main concern is that you will not be able to scale up production. At the moment, we are talking about adding the facility to the top end of the range but in time that will probably change.”  
“How has this worked with other suppliers?” inquired Severus.  
“We’ve used a number of approach with magical suppliers. In some cases, they have supplied the magic element that is patented and given us the means to complete production at our facilities. In others, the contract has enabled them to get finance to scale up their own production, in some cases we have part financed the scaling up of production.”  
“I will need to go through the numbers carefully,” said Severus half to himself.   
“When I return to the states, we will put together a draft contract setting out the sort of numbers that we will probably be looking at over the next five years. I will set out in a separate document what we might be prepared to offer in terms of any partnership in production facilities. You can then compare that against options of your own. We could also recommend a financial adviser and a legal adviser, but you might be better getting someone completely independent.”  
Severus nodded “Will this be a form of magical contract?”  
“An unbreakable vow?” Victorem laughed. “No, we wouldn’t be expecting anyone to die if they don’t meet production targets, just face financial penalties. Our contracts are strictly muggle ones. Kiwi is essentially a muggle company with a little bit of magic.”  
“That sounds fine. I have no intention of missing any targets!” declared Severus decisively.   
Victorem shrugged. “In my experience,there is always a risk that your suppliers will let you down.”  
Severus nodded.  
It was 2 o clock when Severus finally said goodbye to Victorem. They had settled for lunch in a local café. Severus had arranged a taxi to the airport.   
“I have given up transatlantic apparition, “said Victorem. “Too energy draining.”  
Once Victorem had left Severus returned to his office and briefed his office manager on the good news. Louis was suitably excited.   
“Can I buy in?” he’d asked.   
“Buy in?”   
“You know reduce my salary in return for a few shares?”  
“I will think about it, “agreed Severus. He did not particularly fancy being held to account by shareholders but it would be one way of raising some money.”  
The clock had struck four and Severus was thinking of swapping coffee for tea when Harry’s patronus appeared.   
“There have been significant development. Can you apparate to headquarters right away? “   
Severus stood up, closing and locking his cupboards with a wave of his wand. He reached into his pocket for his hipflask of polyjuice potion.  
He did not apparate straight to the front of headquarters, instead he arrived in a back alley of a public house a few hundred yards away. Grasping his pass he strode along the pavement and back into the lion’s den.  
Luck was not with him. He met Peck as he passed through the entrance hall.   
“Ah, Wilhelm, feeling better? ”  
“Much better thanks, “said Severus in a suitably servile voice.  
“Harry will be glad to see you, he is champing at the bit to get going.”  
Sounds like a substantive development, thought Severus if the head of the aurors has already been briefed. Harry was in his temporary conference room turned office. His face lit up when Severus entered.   
“Great, you made good time, I was worried you might still be with your buyer. How was that by the way?”  
“Very productive. I will brief you in due course.” Severus was now anxious to get the investigation moving forwards. Harry needed to return to London to deal with his new responsibilities and he needed to be free of these worries so he could pursue the expansion of his business energetically.  
“Grab a seat,” suggested Harry “While I catch you up with developments.” He gave Severus a couple, of seconds to sit down before he launched into his story. “Peck has managed to interview Lubricus’s ex-wife.”  
“She appears a likely suspect?” inquired Severus.   
Harry shook his head “Rock solid alibi,.She was out of the country during the week we believe was killed. Loads of witnesses.”  
“She could have long distance apparated?”  
“Maybe but there are no records of it.”  
Severus shrugged hardly conclusive in his view.   
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” agreed Harry “We are pursuing that. But she had some other interesting information for us.”  
Harry paused for effect. Severus raised an eyebrow  
“He owned another property. He rented it and pretended to his wife he was living there.”  
“So why did, we find no trace of it?”  
“He borrowed it from a friend apparently and told his wife he was renting it. He was attempting to hide his real assets from her because he didn’t want them to be taken into account in the divorce settlement. Her lawyer found it anyway.”  
Severus nodded, “Good lawyer. “   
“I guess,” said Harry dismissvely. “But that’s not the point.”  
“You want to investigate”  
“Absolutely. Want to come along?”  
“Indeed”, said Severus. “Let’s hope it doesn’t just contain Lubricus’ collection of chocolate frog cards and his dirty laundry.”

“It is a step down from his other apartment,” observed Harry when they arrived at the cramped flat above the shop in the less affluent area of Gottingen.   
“A tumble down,” observed Severus drily.   
Harry grinned. “The auror team opened up, so we should be able to go straight in.”  
Inside was more depressing than outside. It was a studio flat, bed, living room and kitchen in one. The bed was unmade. There were pots in the sink.   
“Looks like he was living here at least part of the time,” said Harry.  
The studio flat did not take long to search. Here there were no filing cabinets just a bed, wardrobe, chest of drawers, and kitchen cupboards. The sofa, which Severus made the mistake of sitting on, was incredibly uncomfortable.   
It was Harry who found the investigation book tucked under the mattress. He pulled it out with a shout of triumph.  
“My opinion of this chap is going down and down,” said Severus pointing to the mattress.   
“Yeah, he clearly didn’t expect the place to be searched,” agreed Harry. “His reputation for liking the finer things in life means that people would not have expected him to be living in this part of town. “  
Harry sat on the bed and opened the folder.   
“It’s like a journal of his investigation in diary form. I’ll have a look at the last entry.” Harry turned to the final pages. “Hey, listen to this!” he exclaimed in excitement. “31 August, scheduled meeting with Trank to pursue Cayman leads.”  
“A couple of days before his body turned up in my warehouse,” pointed out Severus  
Harry nodded as the flicked back through the enteries. “Ah here are the Cayman entries. I don’t really understand it. It’s just a series of transactions and destinations. I can’t work out why he thought this was linked to Trank.”  
“Would you like me to take a look?” suggested Severus.   
Harry handed him the journal.   
As Harry has said, it looked like Lubricus had listed details of all his investigations transactions from a Cayman bank account although how he had managed to get the information from the bank was a mystery. Severus suspected bribery. Most of the transactions were money flows into the account from Berlin University funds, there were a few onward payments, mainly to a Swiss bank account but Severus doubted that would have got Lubricus anywhere. The Swiss were notoriously discreet. So what had Lubricus seen? Severus almost missed it. There was a small payment of five pieces of gold to a company called Cortina. He turned the book round and pointed to the transaction.  
“What?” said Harry.   
“The Zurich bank to which the funds are being transferred paid is on the same street as a world famous potion ingredient supplier in Zurich and a purchase was accidently made to the supplier from the account.”  
“Trank would know it?”  
“Definitely “said Severus “It is world renowned. Anyone like Trank will have visited.”  
“Got him,” said Harry with satisfaction. 

Severus had assumed that they would rush off to Berlin straight away, but Harry wanted to gather more evidence. So they headed back to the flat for a relatively early night.  
“I don’t want to go off half cock. I want to review his normal financial accounts first.”  
“I never thought I would see the day!”  
Harry grinned. “Auror training soon discourages you from diving in head first.”  
“Then this year has not been wasted,” said Severus with satisfaction.  
“The accounts will be available for us to view by 10am tomorrow. We’ll go over them and the catch the train to Berlin.”  
“Are you going to make an appointment?”  
“No,” said Harry decisively. “I don’t want him to have any warning. It is term time so he should be there.”

Harry had been up sipping coffee when Severus had emerged the following morning. He was due at headquarters to review the financial papers at around 10am. They agreed that it made sense for Severus to stay at the flat and catch up on paper work. Harry promised to be back by 12 o clock, in time to catch the 1 o clock train.   
It was 1.30 when Harry finally appeared. Severus had finally given up on him and was making a sandwich. His immediately reached for more bread.   
“Sorry,” said Harry at once, throwing his cloak on the sofa. “It has been a heck of a morning!”  
“The papers weren’t there?” guessed Severus.   
Harry shook his head “No they were. I decided I had better go through them all not just Tranks.”  
Severus nodded it was wise to be through.  
“And?” said Severus.   
“Oh lots of interesting stuff but not on Trank’s accounts. Well except for the purchase of illegal potions ingredients. But I am guessing that is pretty standard for a potions master?”  
Severus nodded. “Definitely.”  
Harry groaned. “Don’t tell me, I am in law enforcement remember.”  
“So we only have what we found last night to work with?” confirmed Severus.   
“Yes,” said Harry “Unless Ron comes up with something. He’s going to come back to me by about 2 o clock“  
“Ron?”  
“Well , you know he has special financial training? So I sent him a copy of Trank’s accounts by patronus.”  
“Are you allowed to do that? He’s not working with the Gottingen team.”  
Harry raised an eyebrow. “Want to talk more about those illegal potion ingredients?”  
“Not really,” said Severus with a small smile.

They had nearly finished lunch when Ron firecalled them.   
“How you doing mate?” he asked Harry before turning to Severus “Afternoon Wilhelm,” he said politely.  
Severus nodded.  
“Hi Ron, want a sandwich there are a couple spare,” asked Harry  
“Great, “said Ron. “I’ve been working on your stuff all through lunch. They can probably hear my stomach rumbling in the Leaky Cauldron.”  
“Did you find anything?” asked Harry excitedly.  
Ron’s head moved from side to side. “Maybe. A couple, of strange things. Have you got your copy of his current account handy?”  
“Give me a minute “said Harry thrusting his plate to one side and diving into his brief case. “What am I looking for?”  
“Have a look at the last six months,” instructed Ron. “You will see there are two big payments to Magicum Taberna Company?”  
“Yep, I spotted those, I assume they were a major purchase of some kind.”  
Ron nodded his head. “Yes that’s what I thought. But have you noticed that each week there is a regular payment to the Mense Magicae?”  
Harry nodded, “So I thought those regular payament were probably for a subscription of some kind.”  
“That’s’ what it looks like,” agreed Ron “But I had a dig and they are both owned by the same man, Mr Johan Schimt and Mense Magicae is just a shell company. Money seem to be going straight to Schimt. It does not appear to make anything or provide a service or anything.”  
“So what are you suggesting?” asked Severus.  
“I’m not sure,” admitted Ron. “But it seems odd.”  
“What do you think it might be?”asked Harry.  
“If I had to guess, I’d think that Mr Schimt was selling something illegal maybe and wanted to cover his tracks.”  
“Worth investigating,” said Harry.  
“Definetly,” said Ron. He paused. “Any chance of that sandwich?” he asked hopefully.   
Harry lifted one off his plate and popped it in Ron’s mouth. “Least we can do after all your help.”

“Illegal potion ingredient?” suggested Harry after Ron had departed.   
“I doubt the large sums are,” said Severus. “That’s an enormous amount to pay for such ingredients. Maybe the smaller accounts might be for a supply of something prohibited.”  
“Maybe.”  
“So are you going to investigate further before interviewing him?”  
Harry paused, “No. I don’t want to delay any further. Once you start making detailed inquiries there is a risk that the suspect gets wind of it. It’s a fine balance. I’ll get the office to do some digging into this guy in Munich, in the meantime let’s catch that train to Berlin.”  
They were just over half way to Berlin, when a patronus, a bear, arrived from Peck. It sniffed Severus suspiciously. Fortunately, they had a carriage to themselves. Severus had cast some do not disturb spells as they were leaving Gottingen station. The other occupants had felt an unaccountable need to move towards the front of the train.  
“The Magicum Taberna is a dealers in magical curios. Mr Schimt is known to the police as some of the curios are thought to contain dark magic but he has never been charged. As far as we know, he does not run a subscription service. We have never heard of Mense Magicae but that might just be our lack of information.”  
“We’ll have to go to Munich and interview him in due course, I think,” said Harry. “Might be nothing to do with the case but it might give us some additional evidence about Trank’s motivation. But for now we simply proceed as planned. “  
“You have thought through your approach to the interview?” asked Severus delicately.   
Harry grimaced. “I’ve thought about nothing else for the past 24 hours.”  
It was, Severus realised, probably Harry’s first time in the hot seat interviewing a key suspect.  
“Maybe you should have been accompanied by someone else. If this comes to trial..”  
Harry nodded, “Yeah I know, but it would have been difficult explain why I want to swap partners at this stage. In anycase, there is no one I would rather have at my side. For one thing you’re both potion masters.”  
Severus swelled with satisfaction in spite of himself. “Nevtheless you are taking a risk. If his lawyers were ever to find out they would have grounds for a mis-trial.”  
Harry nodded “Let’s hope nobody find out. I’m going to owe Wilhelm big time.” He added with a grimace.

The pattern of the previous visit repeated itself. They disembarked at Berlin station and caught a connecting service. It was about 5pm when they found themselves standing back in front of the university.   
It took Crassus ten minutes to appear, although clearly annoyed at their unexpected arrival, he was as polite as ever.   
“As we did not know you were coming, I’m afraid Professor Fudge is busy with other visitors.”  
“That’s not a problem,” said Harry smoothly. “It is Professor Trank we want to see.”  
Crassus relaxed, “Fine. He should have completed his last tutorial and hour or so ago. “   
“Are his quarters in the university?” inquired Severus.   
“Yes, east wing,” said Crassus, “Follow me please.”   
Harry and Severus followed Crassus down one long office corridor after another. There were a number of signs for east wing and the Faculty of Science. After about ten minutes, Crassus paused to check that they had the corridor to themselves before placing his wand on the doorknob of a door labelled Chemistry store and muttering a short incantation under his breath.  
“Come,” he said as the door opened. It led to a much smaller, darker corridor at the end of which was a polished wooden door. Crassus rapped sharply.   
“How do you know he is in?” asked Harry after a moment’s silence.   
“We have a series of magical wards in the building, it tells us when people leave.”  
“He could still be in the lecture hall or one of the classrooms,” suggested Harry.   
Crassus shook his head. “We past them on the way down here and in any case he is clearly inside,” he gestured to a small shelf at the side of the door. On it sat a tiny pixie and next to it on a chair was a small placard bearing the legend “In.”   
“Meet Offy,”  
“Offy?” repeated Harry.   
“Short for duty officer,” explained the pixie proudly.  
Harry smiled at the pixie. “Nice to meet you Offy. I’m Harry. Do you have an “out” placard as well?”  
The pixie wrinkled its’ nose up and shot into a small hole at the back of the shelf, returning a moment later with a stack of placards. He held them up so Harry could see and then gently flicked through them.   
Severus read “Out, Gone shopping, Gone to bed, Having dinner, Working, Sleeping, Knock and die.”  
“Ok,” said Harry “So he is definetly in!”  
The pixie nodded.   
Crassus knocked again.   
“Maybe he’s in the shower,” suggested Severus. “There doesn’t seem to be a placard for that.” he added sarcastically.  
The pixie stamped his foot and held up “Knock and die.”  
“Apparently there is a placard for that,” said Harry with a grin.  
Crassus put his hand on the door and gave a sharp push. The door opened easily. “Ah, he most have opened it for us remotely when he heard us knock. Come.”  
Harry waved goodbye to the pixie which smiled back before scowling at Severus.   
“You shouldn’t have suggested its placards were inadequate,” Harry pointed out.   
Severus shrugged.   
“I bet you’ve never had a pet,” joked Harry as they entered Trank’s quarters.   
“I am not a fan of magical creature’s especially small ones,” agreed Severus.  
“Never fancied a black cat?” teased Harry.   
“Cats were not encouraged at Hogwarts,” said Severus. “Albus was worried they would fight with Mrs Norris, which would upset Filch, or annoy Minerva.”  
Harry turned and laughed and as a result he walked right into Crassus who had come to a halt.   
“Sorry Professor Crassus, shall we leave our shoes here?”  
Crassus remained perfectly still.   
“Professor Crassus?” said Harry again.   
Severus reached past Harry and put a hand on Crassus’ shoulder and pushed him gently to one side, before moving forward.   
“Unfortunate,” observed Severus.   
Harry pushed between them.   
“Shit,” exclaimed Harry.   
Professor Trank was sprawled across his desk and given the amount of blood, Severus judged that his throat had been cut.  



	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 11

“Well I think we can rule out suicide,”concluded Harry some hours later “Unless he garrotted himself from behind.”   
He had joined Severus in Fudge’s office. Severus had been tasked to baby sit Crassus. He had not resented this. He was anxious to stay away from the team of Gottingen aurors and medical personnel who had turned up to view the body. He was already concern that he might have to make a statement as he had been with Harry when he found the body. This masquerading as a Gottingen auror had been a bad idea. He was getting himself and Harry into deeper trouble. However, as Crassus had spent a lot of time in the bathroom, the interlude had given Severus an opportunity to explore Fudge’s office. He has been delighted to find a wealth of books relating wandlore and wand power. He used the Elder Wand to perform a swift duplicating and shrinkage charm. He carefully stored the tiny package of books in his cloak pocket.   
“Where’s Crassus” asked Harry anxiously.   
Severus pointed to the bathroom opposite the office.   
“They have removed the body?” confirmed Severus.   
“Yes after taking pictures from every possible angle,” replied Harry.  
“Have you spoken to Peck?” Severus inquired tentatively.  
“Yeah. He’s not pleased but I am still in charge of the case,” said Harry anticipating Severus next question. “They have little choice but to stick with me. The timing looks bad. Looks like someone from inside tipped someone off.”  
“Could be a coincidence,” said Severus.   
“Yeah maybe. But it’s not exactly reassuring is it?”  
“If there is a spy, he is not very subtle.”  
“Can’t take the chance. The Daily Fictum is going to be all over it.”  
Severus nodded.   
“I’m afraid you’re off the case as well,” said Harry in a whisper. “Peck doesn’t want any internal Gottingen aurors involved. He’s now completely paranoid. “  
Severus nodded part of him was relived but the main part of him was bitterly disappointed he could no longer help Harry. He had secretly enjoyed been part of an investigation team.  
“You will find it hard to manage on your own.”  
Harry grinned “I won’t be on my own. He drafting in another outsider.”  
“Who?” said Severus  
“Someone he met recently,” said Harry still grinning.   
Severus looked puzzled. And then his face cleared, “Mr Weasley?”  
“That’s his idea.”  
Severus paused, “The Ministry have agreed to pull him out of Vienna?”  
“Well Peck’s certainly received an owl to that effect,” said Harry carefully.   
Severus looked hard at his son.  
Harry smiled “Ron is a very careless packer when Hermione’s not around. Always used to leave loads of stuff at Gryffindor over the holidays.”  
Severus looked puzzled again.  
“I found his hairbrush this morning,” continued Harry with a grin.   
Severus sat up straight. “No, not under any circumstances.”  
“Sure you will to help me,” said Harry confidently. “It’ll give you a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate those acting skills.”  
Severus groaned.

They did little more that evening. In, theory Harry was supposed to be waiting for Ron’s arrival from Vienna. Harry had already taken a statement from Crassus about the discovery of the body, he had a quick reassuring chat with him before sending him home and sealing Trank’s quarters. The local firm of security trolls were dispatched to keep everyone in their quarters overnight. There were some complaints but no-one wanted to be dragged to Gottingen in the middle of the night to be interviewed. Harry and Severus therefore headed home for another take away.   
As Ron could not reasonably have been expected to arrive from Italy before 9am, they had a lie in the next morning at least until 8am and a good breakfast. Shortly after that, Harry handed Severus Ron’s hairbrush. Severus added a hair to a small glass poured from his store of polyjuice potion. After the usual discomfort of transformation, Severus forced himself to look in the mirror. Ron Weasley stared back at him. Harry emerging from his bedroom clapped him on the back.  
“Good to see you mate.”  
Severus scowled. “This is completely unacceptable,” he growled.   
Harry shook his head. “You need to loosen up I have never heard Ron use the work unacceptable.”  
Severus muttered something unrepeatable under his breath.   
“You also need to relax, the last time I saw Ron so stressed was before a quidditch match when he was in goal. You are standing too upright, slouch more”  
Severus muttered again.  
“Look,” said Harry this time becoming serious. “You don’t need to do this Dad. I can manage or get Ron to pop over and give me a hand.”  
Severus forced himself to relax his shoulder. “No I will suffer.” He paused.   
As Harry appeared even more sceptical. He relaxed his shoulder, his arms hanging at his sde.  
“We are cool mate, don’t worry about it.”  
Harry grinned “Not bad.” He paused again as Severus grimaced “What’s up?”  
“I’m starving,” groaned Severus. “I could eat a full English breakfast. “   
“That’s Ron,” said Harry. “We will get some snacks on the train.”

By the time they were half way through searching Trank’s quarters, which had Harry had insisted they must do before starting the new round of interviews, Severus was feeling more comfortable in Ron’s skin. It was if his mind had gradually adopted the laid back sloppy movements of his former student. However, he was glad Ron wasn’t any younger at least he had developed some co-ordination.   
Severus was searching Trank’s private potion lab and office whilst Harry did his domestic living quarters, Harry’s instructions had been clear. First priority was any trace of the murder weapon or the intruder, second was any information tying Trank to the embezzlement. The potions lab had surprisingly proved a wash out, except for a bundle of “Mense Magicae Monthly” magazines which explained the monthly subscriptions Ron had identified. Severus had flicked through them and decided they were not sufficiently interesting to purloin. In fact the quality was so poor, Severus was amazed Trank had allowed himself to be ripped off. Apart from that, the lab was exactly what Severus had expected the potions lab of a competent professor to be. There were even fewer illegal potions than Severus had expected. He had been sorely tempted to “obtain” some of Trank’s substantial collection of potions ingredients but in deference to Ron’s good character he had resisted.  
Severus had been searching Trank’s office for about ten minutes when he struck gold. He found a small safe built into the wall behind Trank’s diploma from the Association of Potions Masters.   
“Potter!”  
Harry, who had been searching Trank’s bedroom, appeared at the door with a pillow in his hand. Severus gestured to the safe in the wall.   
“Bingo,” said Harry excitedly.  
“Could be a decoy,” warned Severus.   
Harry tossed the pillow onto the desk and drew his wand. Severus folded his arms and leant back against the study wall.   
Ten minutes later a frustrated Harry admitted defeat. “The wards are too strong. We’ll have to blast it open.”  
“You risk damaging the contents if you do that. Would you like me to try?”  
Harry who looked rather hot sweaty nodded and stepped back.   
Severus drew his wand and spend the next five minutes testing the wards from various angles. “Impressive, and I say that as a man who had managed to dismantle the wards of both Dumbledore and the Dark Lord.”  
“Better call the team to get the dynamite”  
Severus held up a finger, which looked odd given he was Ron. From inside his robes he withdrew a second wand and rolled it gently in his hands.   
“Careful not to channel too much power,” warned Harry “Remember Slytherin’s door!”  
Severus nodded fully focused on the safe door. Last night before bed he had dipped into the books he had duplicated from Fudge’s collection. They had contained some useful tips. He kept his wand movements small and controlled. He visualised the wards in his mind. They were black and sticky. In his mind he managed to compress them into a ball and push them out of the way. As the imaginary ball bounced gently off across Trank’s office. The safe door clicked open.   
Harry clapped his hand together slowly.   
“Impressive Dad,” he paused. “You know I think you were really destined to be master of the elder wand. I was too uncontrolled with it. You seem to have the touch.”  
Severus shrugged and stepped back to allow Harry to search the contents. He began to check the other paintings in the room in case they had others secrets to reveal. He was just deploying a “revelio” spell on a picture of the Brandenburg gate, when Harry gave a sharp exclamation.  
“Something useful?” inquired Severus.  
Harry turned round, eyes on fire. “We were right.” He waved a small piece of paper at Severus.   
Severus stepped back across the room to examine it.   
“The details of the Swizz bank account,” said Severus.   
“He was the embezzler” said Harry triumphantly “But,” he added more soberly. “That doesn’t prove he killed Lubricus although if he had been about to be unmasked he might well have done.”  
Severus nodded, “A good motive, Trank had a lot to lose.”  
Harry nodded “His wand is currently being examined. They should be able to determine if he used the Avada Kedavra on Lubricus”.   
“Anything else in the safe?” asked Severus.   
Harry turned back and lifted the contents onto the bed: bundles of cash, pocket watch, travel documents and three slim boxes. Harry lifted out one of the boxes.   
“Spare wand,” he concluded. “That’s a bit unusual isn’t it?”  
Severus ignored the question. “What’s in the other two?”  
Harry open them. “More wands,” he said puzzled. “Why would anyone want so many spare wands? I suppose I will have to get them all checked for spells.”  
Severus stepped closer and inhaled sharply.   
“What is it?” asked Harry.   
“I am no expert,” said Severus “But these are not spares. They are collectors’ items, old wands with a history attached them. Probably very powerful. The safe is lined with a special substance to contain their power.”  
“Are they valuable?”  
Severus shrugged. “Quite possibly. Fudge could probably give you a view it is a specialised field.”  
“I’ll get him to take a look. If they are, it would explain the large sumes of money he was spending.”   
Harry raised his wand “Expecto Patronum.”

Harry didn’t want Fudge to contaminate the crime scene so they waited outside Trank’s quarters. Severus accioed a table from inside and Harry laid out the three wands next to their boxes.   
“Has he been questioned about who went in and out?” inquired Severus jerking his head towards the pixie on the shelf outside Trank’s door.   
Harry nodded gloomy. “The only thing he’ll says is that he doesn’t remember.”  
Severus raised his eyebrows. “Typical.”  
The pixie scowled. “I don’t remember anything,” Offy said on cue.  
Fudge appeared five minutes later looking annoyed. He launched into what was clearly a prepared speech on behalf of the faulty before Harry had time to draw breath.  
“I hope you realise what a great inconvenience this is. I strongly object to us all been held virtual prisoners in our quarters for nearly 24 hours. “  
Severus glowered at him but Harry raised his hand calmly.  
“We apologise for every inconvenience. But as I am sure you realise, procedure must be followed carefully in the case of a suspicious death. “  
Fudge paused. “It could not have been an accident or suicide?” he asked hopefully.   
Harry should his head. “I can’t give you details but I can tell you we are treating this as a homicide investigation.”  
Fudge blanched and the tried to recover. “Are you any closer to finding the embezzler? “  
Harry hesitated. “I’m afraid I am not at liberty to say. “  
Fudge snorted. “Well the sooner you catch the person who broke in and killed Trank the better. Crime is rife in this city.”  
Harry ignore the hint, “We will interview you all in the next few hours but there is one issue I would welcome your advice upon now.”  
“Go on, “said Fudge grudingly.   
Harry lifted the cloth covering the wands. “I know you are a specialist in wandlore. Could you give me a quick view on these?”  
Fudge looked down. His back was to Severus but he could tell immediately that he was taken aback. His shoulders tensed and then relaxed. There was a moment silence.   
“May I take a closer look?” requested Fudge quietly with a hint of reverence.   
Harry nodded. “Please don’t cast any spell, my team will need to test them.”  
Fudge’s hand which was reaching for the first wand faltered a little as he realised what they would be tested for.  
He silently picked up each wand in turn, weighed them in his hands and caressed the grain of the wood. After about ten minutes he put the third wand down gently.   
“Well that answers one question.”  
Harry raise an eyebrow.   
“Trank was the embezzler,” concluded Fudge shaking his head “I would not have believed it of him.”  
“The wands are very valuable?” deduced Harry.   
Fudge laughed, “If they are what they seem to be, then I would say priceless.”  
Further proof, thought Severus. His instinct has been that they were the genuine thing. But he was no expert. However, Fudge’s reputation suggested he knew what he was talking about.   
“Do you have any idea where he might have got them from?”   
Fudge shook his head. “No. But there are only a dozen or so dealers in the world who could acquire such items. Maybe one or two in Germany. One of these at least comes from the black markets “  
“It would be helpful if you could tell me a little about them” said Harry encouragingly.   
Fudge licked his lips. “The first two are straightforward but very valuable and very famous. The first is from Egypt. The markings on the handles lead me to believe it is the wand owned by the one of wizards who worked for an early Pharaoh. He was instrumental in the construction of the pyramids. Many stories are attached to this wand,” he paused briefly.  
“Like the Elder Wand?” said Harry  
Severus restrained an urge to cuff him round the head.  
Fudge laughed patronisingly. “The Elder Wand is a legend, attached to a child’s fairy story. The wand owned by Death. No these are stories of the great deeds that the owners of the wand performed: the building of the pyramind, the reshaping of the Nile, the defeat of many enemies.”   
Fudge paused again.   
“The second, “he said lightly touching the wand’s handle “Comes from Asia, China. Its’ history is unclear but it was found in the tomb with the terracotta warriors which were discovered many years ago.”  
Harry stirred, he had heard of the terracotta warriors. Hermione was always on about a cultural holiday in the Far East. “So they would fetch a high price?”  
“Enormous “agreed Fudge.  
“And the third?” asked Severus.   
“This one is different, “ Fudge picked up the third wand up gingerly.  
“How?” asked Harry.   
“I cannot tell you who was the previous owner, but I can tell you he was steeped in dark magic.”  
Severus remained completely still ignoring the prickling of his skin.   
Fudge pointed to the small embroidered cover over the base of wand, “May I?”  
Harry nodded.   
Fudge peeled back the cover and lifted the wand up until Harry could see it. Harry bent closer.   
“There are some tiny markings but..?”  
Fudge slid a magnifying glass out of pocket and handed it to Harry. Harry peered down and then stepped back suddenly.   
“You recognise it?” said Ollivander in surprise.   
Harry nodded “It is the sign of the deathly hallows.”  
Fudge laughed “Well that was it original meaning. But I’m afraid it became more commonly linked to the followers of Grindelwald.”  
“So this…” said Harry uncertainly.   
“Belonged to one of Grindelwald’s followers. Inner circle I should say. After his defeat, the authorities did their best to purge the country of dark objects such as these. Many wands of this type were burnt. Very few are thought to be left.”  
“So very valuable to a certain type of collector, “said Severus.  
“A lot of gold would have changed hands certainly. For their remains a huge interest in these macabre objects.” agreed Fudge. “No reputable dealer would sell this sort of item. It is illegal.”  
While Fudge was with them, Harry ran through the standard questions about his whereabouts the previous evening. Fortunately he had been in a university administrative meeting chaired by the Vice Chancellor from 1pm-6pm. Assuming that muggle colleagues could confirm his presence, that meant he had an alibi for the time of the murder. Fudge relieved that he was free to go about his business, offered lunch in the form of sandwiches from the university kitchens, which had Harry gratefully accepted. Severus who, had been hankering after burger and chips was mildly disappointed. They decided to complete the search of Trank’s quarters while they were waiting for the food to be brought up.

Severus returned to the office carefully pacing across the floor searching for any underground storage.   
“Dad, “   
Severus moved swiftly into Trank’s bedroom, Harry was stood by the bedside table looking down at a book.   
“Harry?”  
Harry looked up and held up the book. “Amazon plants and potions.”  
“So?” said Severus thinking it was a title he had meant to get round to reading.   
Harry held the book out to him. Severus reached across and took it from him. It was open at a chapter entitled, “The Rainforest: plants with healing properties.”  
“So?” said Severus again.  
“The bookmark,” said Harry quietly.   
A chocolate frog card was being used as a bookmark. Severus turned it over. A picture of himself slide into view. He was in full black teaching robes and sneering fiercely. He turned it over to read the writing “Severus Snape, potions master, Hogwarts professor and later Headmaster. Follower of Lord Voldemort and later spy for the light. Killed Albus Dumbledore,” Severus looked up.   
“The cards were issued a few months after you left Hogwarts. You’ve never seen one?”  
Severus shook his head.   
“We’re all on them. You, me, Ron, Hermione, Neville.”  
Severus nodded and looked back down at the card.   
“I guess that’s how Trank recognised you. He had been using the card as a bookmark.”  
“And then he met me at the wandlore meeting. He’d spend a week or more going to sleep with my face and saw through my disguise,” concluded Severus.   
“Just bad luck,” said Harry. “I guess he killed Lubricus needed to the dump the body. “  
“Thought a supposed dead ex death eater would cover up the crime rather than tell the authorities and risk being convicted of murder. A clever plan,” admitted Severus.  
“It fits,” agreed Harry.” He killed Lubricus because he had discovered he was the embezzler and then dumped the body on you.”  
“It would solve the mystery nicely,” agreed Severus “If he hadn’t turned up dead.”  
“Yeah, we are missing something,”concluded Harry.

Calista looked pale and annoyed. She had acknowledged Harry’s greeting with an abrupt nod and barely glanced at “Ron” when Harry had introduced him.  
“I am sorry for the delay. But we had various inquiries to make before we could begin the interviews.”  
Calista nodded again. “Fudge thinks the death was the result of an attempted robbery by someone who broke into the university. Is that what you think? “   
Severus noticed she did not use Trank’s name. A classic attempt to distance oneself from reality.  
Harry paused. “We are pursuing all lines of inquiry.”  
“But has any evidence of an external break-in been found?”  
Harry paused again and then shook his head.  
“I see, “said Calista sitting back in her chair. “Fudge’s a fool,” she added.  
Harry kept his face carefully neutral.  
“So, “continued Harry. “Where were you between 4pm and 5pm yesterday evening.”  
Calista smiled and visibly relaxed. “Between 4pm and 4.30 pm I was in a seminar on Suetonius with a group of my second year students. When I came out I met Crassus who wanted to discuss a budgeting matter, that took about 45 minutes. After that, I went to the main library. I had long conversation with the Marcia at the front desk about a text I meant to order from Munich.”  
Harry nodded his thanks. Crassus had already told them about the 4.35pm meeting. “When was the last time you saw Professor Trank?”  
“At lunch yesterday, “said Calista decisively.  
“How did he seem?”   
“Perfectly normal, as far as I can recall. We didn’t have much in common so I tended to pay little attention to him.”

“Where was I?” said Coactor. “Well between 3pm and 4pm I was giving a lecture on the Greek’s use of Arithmancy in lecture hall in 5. After that, I must admit I had no classes so I went to the barbers and then to my tailors. Would you like their addresses?”  
“That would be very helpful,” said Harry gratefully.

Harry had expected Fabula to be hostile but instead he appeared relaxed and launched into an explanation of his movements before Harry could begin.   
“I was at conference in Frankfurt yesterday. Left here at 10.30 didn’t get back until 9pm. Conference focused on Aztec magic. I gave a paper on magic in the city states. Old Duffy Vert was there, fascinating discourse on magic in 12th century rural France”.   
It was ten minutes before Harry was able to successfully interrupt Fabula’s description of the conference.   
“When did you last see Professor Trank?”  
“Ah... he wasn’t at breakfast poor chap. Rarely was. Liked a quiet start to the day I guess. So the last time I saw him must have been at dinner the previous day. Seemed fine to me.”

The last interview was with Crassus who was dreadfully nervous trembling almost. He had clearly not got over his discovery of the body.  
Harry did his best to put him at his ease pouring him a glass of water and reassuring him of the routiness of the questions. They had covered most of the ground the previous evening.  
Crassus’ whereabouts were dispensed with fairly quickly he had been in the finance department for most of time with the other accountants apart from his discussion with Calista.   
“What did you think of Trank?” asked Harry.   
“He was a good man,” said Crassus immediately “Kind, polite, very helpful to me. I have a nervous complaint you know, “he explained confidentially. “Professor Trank was very helpful in supplying different brands of calming potion.”

“Kind or not, he was still an embezzler,” said Severus after Crassus and escorted them to the exit of the building.   
Harry nodded, “Looks like it. “  
“So what now? “said Severus, it was late afternoon and Berlin’s rush hour traffic was in full flow.  
“Back to Gottingen,” said Harry immediately. “We need to review all their financial accounts and see if anything turns up and get someone onto verifying those alibis. Because at the moment it doesn’t look like any of them could have done it.”  
“They’ll be a crack in one of them,” promised Severus. “Trank certainly didn’t kill himself.”

Severus arrived back at the flat the following evening about 7pm. It had been a long day of catching up at the warehouse, developing plans for fulfilling the new Kiwi contract and identifying a suitable legal and finance team. It had gone well. On this front at least, Severus was feeling optimistic about the future. His team was suitably excited but a little daunted about and today had been as much about reassuring words than anything else. They reminded him of the Hogwarts Upper Sixth just before Newts.  
When he entered the flat, Harry was sat on the sofa with his head in his hands. Unusually, he did not look up when Severus entered.   
“Harry?”   
Severus put his briefcase by the robe stand and moved into the lounge,   
“Harry,” he repeated.   
Harry looked up his face blank and tired.  
Severus sat down in the armchair opposite him and leaned forward.   
“Harry, what’s wrong?”” he paused “All is well with Miss W… Mrs Potter?”  
The formality produced a strained smile in response. Harry nodded, “As far as I know.”  
“So what’s wrong?”  
“It’s the investigation.”  
“Harry, work is not worth getting distressed about. Well unless you are trying to defeat the Dark Lord,” Severus admitted.  
“Yeah, but we need to get this cleared up so you’re safe and …”  
“Don’t worry about me Harry.”  
“I can’t help it. You’re so far away when I’m in London, if anything were to happen.”  
“I can look after myself. Looks what’s all this about? “He paused. “The inquiries into the professors’ alibis and their finances have not thrown up any leads,” he guessed.  
“No they haven’t” admitted Harry quietly.  
“Harry, I have never been an auror but I suspect you will come across many dead ends in investigations and seemingly unbreakable alibis. “  
Harry nodded, “I know that.”  
“So what’s the problem?”  
Harry licked his lips. “It doesn’t look like Trank killed Lubricus.”  
Severus sat back in his chair and stared steadily at Harry. “What has led you to arrive at that conclusion?”  
Harry reached for his note book. “Ok. First none of the wands tested casted the Avada Kedavra that killed him. “  
“He clearly had a tendency to buy additional wands. He may have used one and then disposed of it.”  
Harry nodded. “True. But we can run a test these days which links someone’s magical signature to a crime. ”  
“Really?“ said Severus immediately fascinated.   
“Yeah it’s a bit like a fingerprint or DNA. Law enforcement are trying to keep quiet about it. You need serious grounds to have full access to someone wands to determine the signature and it can be difficult to get a warrant. ”  
“I would imagine many people will claim that is a serious violation of a wizard’s rights,” said Severus. “So Trank’s magical signature does not match what you found on Lubricus’ body?”  
Harry shook his head. “Not even close.”  
“So the embezzlement is a red herring?”  
“Not necessarily, you see the magical forensic team have found evidence that Lubricus’ body was in Trank’s apartment. Although we don’t think he was killed there.”  
“Somebody dumped the body on Trank?”  
Harry nodded “Maybe. Then he panicked and dumped the body on you.”  
Severus nodded somehow the fact that Trank had discovered the body and then decided to dump it on him, made it feel less premediated more of a spontaneous act of a man under pressure. It strangely made Severus feel a little more comfortable about the situation. Which he supposed was ridiculous as the net result was that he had still end up with a dead body in his warehouse.  
“So where does that leave the investigation?”  
“Back at the beginning. Well not quite. It must be somone connected to both Lubricus and Trank. We need to go back through every interview, every lead, and every connection Lubricus had and see what we missed.”  
“Would you like me to come into the office with you tomorrow and go through the evidence?”  
“You can put up with being Ron for another day?”  
Severus rolled his eyes but nodded.   
“A fresh pair of eyes can’t hurt but I’m not hopeful.”

Eighteen hours later Severus was forced to accept Harry’s analysis. He had been through the record of every interview, re-examined every artefact and scrutinised the financial statements of those involved three times. Some of it had been enlightening about the individuals concerned but nothing pointed to the identity of the murder or murderers. Crassus clearly had a muggle prescription drug habit, which was no doubt going to get worse now he couldn’t turn to Trank for help. Calista, spent an inordinate amount of money on women’s fashion. Coactor’s expenditure on silk cravats and handkerchiefs was frankly ludicrous and reckless as he had lost a lot of his family’s wealth in the financial crisis of the 1990s. Fudge’s indulgence was first edition books which while costly were at least a better investment.   
Harry had sunk further into despondency as the hours past and it was clear that Severus had, had no flash of inspiration. Severus cast a round desperately for a way forward.   
“What does Peck suggest?” he asked. After all, he was the head auror and ought to be providing his young secondee with some sound guidance.   
“He’s as baffled as we are, to be honest this is all such a mess I think he is scared of unduly influencing the investigation and being accused of malpractice.”  
“Wonderful, “muttered Severus. It would be a long depressing Wednesday evening if he did not think of something. He tensed.  
“What?” said Harry.  
“The wandlore society!”  
“What about it?”  
“It is due to meet this evening. We should go.”  
Harry’s eyes light up “Try to catch them off their guard?” The light in his eyes faded. “I don’t think that will work. I know they invited me but that was before the murder. I think they will be too cautious now.”  
Severus smiled.” Oh, I don’t suggest Harry Potter attends. Notwithstanding, their kind invitation. I thought I should go and you come undercover as it were.”  
“My invisibility cloak?”  
“I will get you in, and then leave early. With any luck that will loosen their tongues. “  
“Worth a try,” agreed Harry.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 12

The front bar was full when they arrived. The oak benches and cubicles were packed. For some reason the society appeared to be having a fancy dress event. There were an embarrassing number of Merlins, Severus was almost sure he had glimsped at least one Dumbledore. There were several Dark Lords although maybe that was just how a lot of people imagined wizards.   
Severus strode swiftly through the crowds to the bar on his way he spotted a couple of Harry’s aurir colleagues ordering drinks. The bartender caught his eye and tilted his head towards the back room. Severus nodded and headed towards the door he had been escorted though on his previous visit. He hoped Harry was managing to keep up. He paused when he reached the door pretending to readjust his robe to give Harry a change to catch up.  
“Still with me Potter?” he muttered.   
“Of course, I’m an expert at this after all these years.”  
“Come.”  
Fudge and Crassus were already seated by the fire in the snug when Severus arrived.   
“Ah, good to see you again Sebastian. I see your first visit did not put you off,” Fudge gestured towards an empty seat at the fire. A pale and anxious looking Crassus said nothing but nodded politely in Severus’ direction. Severus returned the gesture.   
“I trust you have been well since our last meeting,” remarked Severus formally. Fudge would believe him unware of recent events.   
Fudge hesitated, “I have known calmer times.”  
“Nothing too challenging I hope?” Severus inquired.   
Crassus gave what could be best described as a whimper. Fudge scowled at him.   
“A few problems at work,” replied Fudge.   
Ladestock was the next to arrive shortly followed much to Severus surprise by Fabula and Coactor. Luck was with them. This was followed by a plethora of polite inquires, the removing of outer robes and ordering of drinks. Severus hoped Harry has found himself somewhere safe to perch.   
Fudge gave them ten minute to settle down before clapping his hands. “A working day for all of us, so we had best get started. The door opened and Calista swept in.   
Fudge scowled.  
“Do take that look of your face Fredrick. It has, as you are only too well aware been a tiresome week.”   
Fudge nodded. “Do get a drink Calista dear so we can get started.” He lifted a set of notes out of his bag. “I thought today I would give a short talk on the wand myths and legends associated with the Incas of South America.”  
Calista gave a derisive laugh, “You think we really want to hear about the Incas at a time like this? Why do you think Fabula and Coactor have put in a rare appearance?”  
Fudge scowled again.  
“What is this?” inquired Ladestock.  
“Surely you have heard about Trank my dear, “ said Calista smoothly.  
“Trank, what about him? I notice he is not here tonight. Is he ill?”  
Crassus gave a peculiar laugh the other Berlin professors grimaced.  
“He is not ill. He’s dead Ladestock,” laughed Calista.  
“Dead !” repeated Ladestock slowly.  
“Professor Trank has met with an unfortunate accident,” said Fudge tightly.  
“Unfortunate accident!” repeated Calista incredulously.  
Fabula spluttered unintelligibly.  
“Let’s call a spade a spade Fredrick, Trank was murdered,” said Calista bluntly.  
“Murdered?“ repeated Ladestock softly.  
“A burglary at the university” said Fudge swiftly.  
“Fredrick stop talking tripe. You are the only one who believes that ridiculous story,” Calista turned towards Ladestock. “He was murdered by person or persons unknown.”  
“Good gracious,” gasped Ladestock. “Are the aurors investigating? Who are the key suspects?”  
“Us,” snapped Fabula.   
“Good gracious!” repeated Ladestock. “Are the aurors any good? “   
“Unfortunately yes. We appear to be stuck with the top team.”  
“Top team?”  
“Unbelievably,” said Coactor. “The team is being led by Harry Potter.”  
“Harry Potter !!” said Ladestock.  
“Yes ,” admitted Fudge shortly. “As luck would have it, he is on secondment to Gottingen from London.”  
“Are they making progress?” asked Ladestock faintly.  
“We’d be the last people they’d tell, “said Coactor.   
“Look,” interjected Fudge. “It has been an incredibly stressful week. I for one want to think and talk about something else for a while, so if you are all quite ready I am going to talk about wands and the Incas.”  
“Anything to distract us from reality,” observed Calista drily.   
Fudge glared at her.   
“Oh don’t mind me Fredrick, distract away.”  
Had Severus been in the mood, Fredrick’s talk would have ranked as mildly interesting. Certainly some of the challenges the Incas faced and overcame related to the channelling of power and wand control struck Severus as worth pursing when he had time. But most of his attention was focused covertly on the Berlin professors. Crassus seemed to have sunk into a stupor. Fudge appeared to have shaken off his concerns sufficiently to give a credible performance as key speaker and even adequately answered a couple of Ladestock’s questions about wand materials. Calista spent the time studying her nails. Coactor seemed lost in thought, whilst Fabula was plainly thinking about his dinner.   
Mindful of his promise to Harry, Severus made his excuses shortly after Fudge had finished.   
“I have an early start. Meeting with my lawyer to discuss a new business venture,” he explained as he took his leave.  
Fudge lifted his hand to arrest his departure “I hope the distressing news about Trank will not prevent your joining us another evening. “  
Severus shook his head “On the contrary, it has been a most stimulating night.” He moved swiftly thorugh the door. When he reached the entrance to the front bar he found Calista waiting for him.  
“Had enough of the Incas for one evening?” she asked drily.   
“Not really, my area of expertise. You?”  
“Frankly I could put not put up with another hour or so of Fudge pretending it is just another evening.”  
Severus paused. She was clearly not planning to return to the meeting so Harry would glean nothing further from her. Perhaps he should try to get her to loosen up.   
“Difficult week?” he inquired with a smile.   
“You have no idea, “she said.   
Actually he did.   
“Why don’t you let me buy you a drink and you can tell me all about it.” Blimey he was out of practice. That remark left lame in the rear view mirror.  
“Not here,” she said quickly.   
“Agreed,” confirmed Severus “Where do you recommend?”  
“I know a bistro with fine French wine and good food.”  
The rushed tea with Harry seemed a long time ago. “Sounds perfect “said Severus gesturing towards the door.

The bistro was a 5 minute walk away, tucked between a bakers and another pub. It was small and quite busy but given it was a Wednesday they found a table easily enough and settled down near the kitchen.   
“Muggle, I’m afraid” said Calista apologetically handing him a menu.  
“Most of the best restaurants are, “said Severus with a slight smile.   
“You are not what I expected,” she commented.   
His eyes flicked up from the menu.   
“In what way?” he asked easily.   
“When you attended the first session a couple of weeks ago, you reminded me of a distant cousin of mine.”  
“Really, “said Severus wondering whether he could risk the steak.  
“He’s English. He’s having a few problems at the moment , he was on losing side of the war over there.”  
Severus was careful to be unconcerned. “Really?” he repeated.  
“Lucius Malfoy. Have you heard of him?”  
Severus cursed his subconscious.  
“I may have, I led an isolated life in Scotland but the name rings a bell. Were you close?”  
Calista shook her head. “No, I have only met him a few times. Too arrogant for my taste, good looking though.”  
Severus bit back a snide comment and nodded neutrally.   
“Have you worked at Berlin University long?” he inquired, partly as a way of changing the subject.  
“About five years. I was in Munich before that.”   
“Fudge mentioned that you teach Ancient magical languages?”  
“That’s right. I also teach Latin and Greek to the muggles.”  
“Do you enjoy it?”  
“I do. Berlin is a good university and it leaves me plenty of time for research”  
“You have amiable colleagues?” Severus put a hint of a question into his voice.   
Calista pulled a face. “They’re alright. My research partner, Fabula is quite sharp and we will produce some interesting work. Fudge is a pendant but I have met worse Registrars.”  
“And the poor chap who died recently?”  
“Trank?”  
“Yes, “said Severus. “I only met him the once of course.”  
“He was alright. Well I thought he was. Turns out he loved money and what it could buy a little too much.”  
“Ah,” said Severus. “And they believe that was why he was killed?”  
“I’m not sure what they think. We are all prime suspects of course. Ridiculous really they aren’t following up any obvious leads. Part of the problem is that Fudge is not being as open as he should be.”  
“Really?” said Severus preventing too much interest entering his voice.  
“Yes, he was clearly involved in some dodgy business. Fudge told me he had been buying wands from Schimt in Munich.”  
“Ah, ” said Severus.   
“Well Fudge must know he’s dodgy. He’s a wandlore specialist. I remember the transfiguration Professor in Munich warning me about him. He said his curios were too good to be true.”  
She paused as the waiter appeared.  
“What do you recommend?” asked Severus returning his attention to the menu.  
“You should try the veal, it is exquisite.”  
“Perfect,” said Severus.  
“Two Veal please, with side salad.”   
“Would you like wine?”  
“How about a bottle of house white?” she suggested.   
“By all means,” agreed Severus expansively. He had a breakfast meeting at the Dolce’s with the lawyer but he could always take a sobering up potion. A few glasses of wine would encourage her to open up.  
“The service is normally pretty quick here,” she noted as the waiter headed back to the kitchen.  
“It is an interesting find. I am tempted to bring my clients here.”  
“What exactly is it that you do?”  
Severus launched into a relatively accurate description of his business, even telling her about the proposed deal with Kiwi of whom she had heard.   
“But that’s a really big deal isn’t it?” she said clearly impressed.  
Severus who had barely had time to absorb the development himself because of the investigation felt his excitement stir.  
“It is a big opportunity certainly.”   
He nodded politely at the wine waiter as he showed him the label.  
“You will be a very rich man if it comes off,” said Calista pretending to bat her eyes.   
Severus laughed. “You think I will need to be careful?”  
“Very,” she said seriously. “Unless there is someone special already. In which case she will probably need to put you under lock and key,” she observed with hint of a question in her voice.   
Severus looked at her carefully “No, there is no-one special, at least not anymore.”

It was nearly midnight when Severus got back to the apartment. Harry was still not back so he decanted the memory of his dinner with Calista into the make shift Pensieve and made himself a coffee, reminding himself that Harry had been of age for sometime.  
It was almost midnight by the time Harry staggered in and flopped onto the sofa.   
“They went on and on,” he moaned “And I couldn’t get out.”   
“Useful?” inquired Severus.   
Harry opened his eyes. “I guess. They spent a lot of time talking about different types of wands. The most interesting information emerged shortly after you left.”  
“Yes?”  
“Yeah. Fabula made a joke about Calista being a fast worker. Implying she was trying to hook up with you.”  
“Interesting,” said Severus sitting up. “She was waiting for me at the entrance to the front bar.”  
“That’s not the interesting bit. Coactor said she had always been a quick worker and that she had even managed to hook up with the “Auror chap who had come to interview them.””  
Severus sat up straight, Fantastic this would get him off the hook about that security file he shouldn’t have seen. “She had a relationship with Lubricus?”  
“That’s what they were implying.”  
“The station had no inkling of that?” Severus inquired with mixed feelings.  
“I don’t think so, I will have to check. But interesting don’t you think?”  
“Definitely” agreed Severus.   
“So what happened after you left? Did you have a chat with Calista given she was waiting for you?”  
“A bit more than a chat,” admitted Severus. “We went out to dinner.”  
“You had a second dinner?” said Harry “You’re not still channelling Ron are you?”  
Severus grimaced. “I have decanted the memory. There are one or two points we should perhaps discuss.”  
“Sure,” said Harry who had apparently regained his second wind. “Is it the bowl?”   
Severus nodded, “You can review it in the morning.”  
“Hey, no time like the present,” said Harry jumping off the sofa.

Harry looked thoughtful when he withdrew from the memories. He went to the fridge and poured himself a glass of milk. Severus could tell he was buying time.   
“Well, what did you think, Mr Auror in charge of the investigation?” Severus quipped.   
Harry put his glass down and turned round.   
“She likes you Dad,” he pointed out.  
Severus shrugged.   
“And you seemed to like her.”  
“She is entertaining” he admitted. “It was an amusing dinner.”  
Harry nodded, “Yeah it looked it.”  
“What’s wrong Harry?”  
“It’s just if she really did have an affair with Lubricus, she could be a real suspect in this case.”  
“Harry, Harry, It was one dinner!”  
“Yeah I know, but I’ve been thinking you must be pretty lonely here and it would be nice of you had a friend.”  
“Harry, I have been on my own for many years. Do not concern yourself. Let’s focus on the investigation.”  
“Yeah?”  
“Definitely. So from that perceptive, what did you think of my conversation with her?”  
“That bit about the curio seller in Munich was interesting and we should check him out again. The initial investigation by the office did suggest he was a bit dodgy but no serious red flags. I mean Trank did make a lot of payments to him but …”  
“Yes. That’s the problem,” agreed Severus. “Traders, even those who sell items associated with the Dark Arts, don’t usually kill good customers. It tends to be bad for business.”  
Harry nodded, “We haven’t found any evidence that Lubricus was interested in the Munich trader. “  
Severus “Agreed. But as you said he’s worth checking out given the absence of other leads.”  
“One other thing, “ said Harry pulling himself off the sofa.”I saw a couple of people from the office in the audience.”  
Severus nodded, “Yes I had noticed that.”  
“Explains the tipoff that turned up in internal mail.”  
Severus raised an eyebrow.   
“Oh come on in those boots they stuck out this a sore thumb, Trank would have spotted them a mile off.”  
“You are suggesting he used them to deliver the tipoff”  
Harry nodded “Quick disillusionment spell and followed one of them into headquarters, after your first evening at the wand society. Explians why the tip off just said the Industrial Estate and not a specific warehouse.”  
“He planted the note before he planted the body,” concluded Severus.  
Harry nodded.

“A significant risk to take,” observed Severus.  
Harry grinned, “We both taken more dangerous ones.”


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 13  
Harry was still asleep when Severus headed for his breakfast meeting. When he had returned, having successfully retained the solicitor’s services, Harry had left a note saying he had gone to check in with Peck. Severus had time to read through the draft contract before he returned.   
“There is fresh coffee in the pot,” said Severus.   
“We’re going to need it. You’d better add some polyjuice potion to yours,” warned Harry.   
Severus raised an eyebrow, “I need to become Mr Weasley again?”  
Harry nodded, “Peck has suggested we bring Calista in for questioning at the station.”  
“All the way from Berlin?”  
Harry nodded, “Yes, embrassingly, she is mentioned in Lubricus’ security file. There were allegations that they were more than just good friends.”  
“She’s not going to be in a good mood,” observed Severus  
“Not after the late night she had with you.”

Severus was correct, Calista was not in a good mood. The relaxed witty woman of the evening before had disappeared, instead a white faced tight lipped lady sat in the bland auror interview room facing Harry and Ron.   
“Would you like a coffee?“ Severus felt compelled to ask. He was urgently in need of one himself.  
“No thank you,” Her eyes scanned “Ron” with contempt. Severus felt his admiration for her increase.   
“Thank you for coming to the station,” began Harry.  
Another look of contempt, this time directed at Harry. She didn’t bother with the “What choice did I have answer.” Even so Harry wriggled with embarrassment.   
Harry cleared his throat. “Some new evidence has come to light.”  
Calista’s silence continued.   
Come on Harry don’t beat about the bush.   
“I would like you to tell us again about your relationship,” he paused “with Lubricus.”  
“I met him when he came to the university to interview us about the embezzlement.”  
Her answers remained short and sharp.   
“Had you met him before that?”  
“No” she replied decisively.   
“How many times did you meet him after that first interview?”  
“He interviewed me twice as I recall.”  
“Did you see him in addition to the interviews?” inquired Severus.  
She paused, “What evidence do you have that allows you to make that supposition?”  
Severus knew Harry was cursing him for pressing the pace of the interview.   
He countered with a question.  
“Would you be prepared to have your wand tested to ascertain whether a Incendio spell has been cast recently?”  
Calista’s eyes widened a fraction.  
Got you, thought Severus. He could tell Harry was holding his breath.   
Calista licked her lips. “That won’t be necessary. “   
She hesitated and then shrugged. “I don’t suppose it matters now so I might as well just tell you. “  
Harry nodded encouragingly.  
“My family and his wife’s had know each others some years ago. I met her again a couple of years ago at an event at Gottingen university. Art exhibition as I recall. She later invited me round to dinner to make up a party. It was incredibly boring. A group of peusdo intellectiuals trying to impress. He was the only tolerable one present. Common, of course, but didn’t give a toss about what people thought. I liked that. He was refreshing, “ she paused.  
“And after that?” asked Harry gently.  
“I saw him a couple of times just for a drink. I was bored and he was entertaining. However, his wife overeacted, reported him to the office or something and I didn’t see until the embezzlement thing. Lubricus interviewed me a couple of times and then I met him again by accident in a bar in Munich, I was visiting an old university colleague and he was there on business.”  
“Did he say what business?” inquired Harry.  
“No,” said Calista shaking her head. “He was careful for the most part not to talk about his work especially the embezzlement case. He was going through a tough divorce and he was glad of someone to talk to.”  
“Did you meet often?”  
“Twice or week or so for a month or so “  
“Where did you meet?”  
“Various restaurants and then later on at his apartment. He was very anxious that his wife did not find out about us. When I returned to his apartment,” she coughed for a moment “I was anxious to remove all trace of my presence in his life. I felt his wife would pursue me if she had discovered our relationship.”  
“An incendiary spell was perhaps a little of an overreaction?” Harry suggested gently.  
“Yes, it probably was, but I didn’t realise it was the aurors. I thought….”  
“Thought what?” pressed Severus.  
“Towards the end of our time together he went away for a couple of week on business.”  
Harry and Severus exchanged looks. The Caymans trip.  
“When he got back, “continued Calista, “He called me. He was excited like he was on the verge of a breakthrough.”  
Harry nodded.  
“But when he called me the next night he said he was going to have to think things through. Something unexpected had happened.”  
“Did he say what it was?” pressed Harry  
Calista shook her head.  
“Did it appear related to the embezzlement?”  
Calista paused “I thought so initially but when I started to question him it was like he had almost forgotten about that. He said something else, had an added complication.”  
“Added a complication?” repeated Harry.  
Calista nodded. “I must admit I did try to push him a bit further because I could tell he was worried frightened  
even maybe.”  
“Frightened?” said Severus.  
“Yeah. Which was strange. It scared me a bit. That’s probably why I overreacted when I arrived at the flat.”  
“You thought whoever he was concerned about had broken in?”  
“Yes, he was keeping his new apartment a secret from his family you see.”  
“Because of the divorce?”  
“Yes, I’m afraid he was trying to hide some of his assets from his wife. “  
“Charming man,” said Severus.  
Calista shrugged “He could be very amusing. A change from dry professors.” She paused again. “I suppose I should apologise for the incendio spell. I take it was you two in the other room?”  
“Me and another colleague,” admitted Harry.   
“Are you both alright?”  
“We’ll live, “said Harry with smile.   
They questioned Calista for another half hour or so. But got little more of interest out of her. Eventually they let her go with a warning that they might have further questions.  
“Did you believe her?” inquired Severus after she had left.  
“Surprisingly, I did,” said Harry. “It had a ring of truth to it. I’ve checked her accounts. We can find no evidence she was getting any money from the embezzlement and scrutiny of Trank’s accounts including the Cayman accounts support that.”  
“Crime of passion?” asked Severus.  
“You think that it’s a possibility?”  
“Not really,” admitted Severus. “She just doesn’t seem that sort of woman, too controlled. Why didn’t she just end the relationship him?”  
Harry nodded.  
“So what next?” said Severus

What next, turned out to be a further discussion between Harry and Peck, whilst Severus was given the task of reviewing all the notes and evidence from the other cases Lubricus had been working on. Severus had to admit that Harry was right. Nothing in Lubricus’ notes or in records of the auror interviews of those involved in Lubricus domestic surveillance case, security case or the search for the lost relative looked remotely likely to have caused the sort of reaction Calista had described in a seasoned auror like Lubricus. He read carefully through Harry’s interview with the head of the company requiring security: they had been plagued by spate of vandalism. Harry and Lubricus had both concluded that muggle youths were the likely culprits. Lubricus had applied vandalism repellent to the paint so any writing or pictures just faced after a couple of hours and he also strengthen the wards. The owner of the company had been quite content and the vandalism had declined. The surveillance had been an extra martial affair, something Lubricus was quite well versed in, but those concerned had been the owners of an astrology shop and Harry’s background inquiries showed nothing which would suggest either parties the skill or power to threaten Lubricus effectively. The final case was to find a missing father. Leon Suche was in his late forties. His father would have been in 70s. He was believed to have been injured in the war and had been lost sight off. Some sort of head injury. He had been registered as dead. Lubricus had investigated. His notes confirmed that the man’s father had been in hospital and had discharged himself. No further trace had been found but it was assumed he had been lost in the subsequent fighting in the city along with hundreds of others including his mother and father. The account Lubricus had acquired of some of those involved in the battles combined with Severus own knowledge of the period, suggested that this was a probable explanation. None of those involved seemed to have known Trank or had any connection to Berlin University.  
Severus had just taken another swig of polyjuice potion and as a result was contemplating the means of acquiring a fairly substantial snack when Harry remerged.   
“I’m going to go an interview Schmit. Peck said he knows it doesn’t look likely but we must be meticulous about exploring all avenues and he is at least linked to the embezzlement case even if only indirectly. “   
“So it’s a train journey to Munich then?”  
Harry shook his head. “No, I rang the hospital. They have agreed I can apparate providing I do sidelong so if you don’t mind?.”  
“No that’s fine. Anything to avoid another train journey,” said Severus fervently.   
“I’ll just put my stuff together, and then we can head off.”  
“So where are we having lunch?” inquired Severus “Here or Munich, because if it’s Munich I might just pop out and buy a coffee and maybe a bagel.”  
Harry grinned, “You sound just like Ron”  
Severus groaned.

After advice from Peck, they apparated into Munich not far from the mediaeval city gate, with strict instructions to check in with the auror station just inside it. While Harry was taking care of the formalities, Severus headed for the traditional food market to identify possible options for lunch. He bought some potato cakes, frankfurters and garlic bread. When Harry returned from the auror station 15 minutes later they went for a picnic in the local park with two bottles of beer.   
“That was excellent. I am going to miss this when I return to London.”  
Severus nodded. There were lots of things he was going to miss when Harry returned to London but being Ron was not one of them. Although in this persona, he did feel more like Harry’s colleague than his Dad.  
“Did the Munich aurors have any advice or information?”  
“Not really,” said Harry. “They’d heard of Schmit and the shop but that was because of local knowledge rather than because they had come across him in an official capacity.”  
Severus nodded “Well we can but try. How far to the shop?”  
“About 10 minutes. It is just off Sendlinger street. It doesn’t reopen unto 3 o clock, so I thought I might have a quick nap in the sun before we set off”  
Severus nodded. Ron’s appetite meant that he had eaten so much he felt rather sleepy.

The shop was in an alley just off Sendlinger Street. Unlike Diagonal Alley there was no secret entrance, muggle eyes just appeared to slide over the alley situated between the bank and the wine merchants. The Magicum Taberna was half way down the alley between a shop selling magical furniture which did all sort of clever things and a robe shop.   
“What is magical furniture?” asked Harry pausing for a moment by the window.  
“Gimmicks, “ snapped Severus.   
Harry looked inquiringly  
“Beds that rock you to sleep, self-cleaning tables, and chairs that warm themselves before you sit down. Muggles have lots of cleverly invented equivalents.”  
“Yeah, I’ve never come across magical furniture before.”  
“It is not popular in England, “agreed Severus.  
The Magicum Taberna was best described as sprawling: window, followed window. The door was in the middle of the large glass frontage. A bell tinkled as Harry opened it and stepped inside. The interior was very different: it was shaped like a hexagon. It was like the front of the shop had been bent out of shape.   
“Flattening spell, “muttered Severus. “All the windows, front back and sides appear along the front.But in reality the shop is a hexagon.”  
“Never seen one of these before either,” whispered Harry.   
No, it takes an awful lot of power to maintain,” said Severus thoughtfully.   
“Can I help you?”   
The voice came from a hexagon office at the centre of the glass spider’s web. An elderly wizard appeared. Severus first impression of him was that he was non-descript. His robes were the epitome of boring: plain dull colours. His hair was a mixture of blond and brown.   
“I’d have thought the owner of this shop would have been more prepossessing,” whispered Harry before turning his attention to the owner.   
“Hi, I’m Harry.”  
“Potter, “ said the man sharply his voice becoming stronger.   
Harry held you his hand. After a moment, the man took it.   
“Johan Schmit. How do you do? How wonderful to have such a famous customer in my shop! Dare I hope you are shopping for something exciting? A present for your new wife perhaps or a souvenir?”  
“You’re breath of your stock is amazing, “commented Harry monetarily distracted by the glimpses he was getting of the hexagon alcoves. “Wands, potions, clocks, hats, carpets.”  
“What is it you are interested in? “ Schmit asked including Severus in his question. “Are you infact buying or selling?”  
“Selling? “ said Harry with a laugh.   
“But of course, you are likely to have a number of items a trader such as myself will be interested in.”  
“Really?”  
“Of course, you are famous, all of your possessions will have a value: old school books, uniform, clothes but most importantly your wand. The famous one that bested the Dark Lord. You have it with you?”  
Severus found his eagnerness disturbing and it was clear that Harry did as well.  
Schmit positively salivated as Harry reluctantly pulled out his wand. Schmit’s eyes devoured the wand greedily.   
“Wands with such a significant history command an enormous price. Should you contemplate selling it I….”  
“I’m afraid I need it at the moment,” joked Harry.  
“Of course, of course but should you ever change your mind. Now, what can I interest you in?”  
“I’m afraid I am here on business?”  
“Business?”  
“I’m working for Gottingen aurors. This is my colleague Ron Weasley.”  
“Auror, how interesting,” Schmit flashed a quick appraising look at “Ron” In spite of the smooth response, Severus could sense something, maybe disquiet.  
“So how can I help you Mr Potter?”  
“I’m here investigating the death of Professor Trank I believe he was a customer of yours?”  
“Trank is dead?” exclaimed Schmit. “When did that happen?”  
Severus attempted to make eye contact but Schmit skilfully avoided him.   
“A couple of days ago. He is a long standing customer I understand?”  
Schmit paused.   
Is he considering lying wondered Severus or is this the natural caution of a business man who operates close to the line?  
“We have had a number of dealings certainly.”  
As Schmit volunteered nothing further, Harry continued.  
“We are aware he made a number of large payments to you and monthly payments as well?”  
Schmit reflected a moment “I think you had better come into the office and make yourselves comfortable.”  
The hexagonal office provided perfect visibility of all sections of the shop. Schmit gestured to a pair of battered but clearly expensive leather armchairs.   
“Oh yes quite valuable,” observed Schmit correctly interpreting Severus appraisal. “I see no reason to use magic to disguise the imperfection of real antiques.”  
Severus nodded.   
“So what can I tell you?”  
“When did you last see Professor Trank?”  
“It must have been about a couple of weeks ago, he came into view a new wand in my collection.” He gestured towards the wand room. “A beautiful piece owned by one of the French queens, misplaced during the revolution. It has recently resurfaced. Full provenance of course.”  
“Of course,” repeated Harry.   
“Allow me to show it to you.”   
Before Harry could respond, Schmit flicked his wand and a small wooden box whisked towards him. Schmit caught it deftly and placed it on the desk.   
“A fascinating piece,” said Schmit with relish, tenderly opening the box. “Elm with mermaid shells, a very unusual combination.”  
Severus from his recent study of wand lore knew that the use of mermaid scales was extremely rare and leant forward with interest. Harry on the other hand clearly knew nothing of its value in spite of feigning interest. Sensing Harry’s disinterest, Schmit closed the box.   
“Anyway, that was the last time I saw him.”  
“He was not interested in the wand?”  
“On the contrary, Professir Trank could appreciate a rare wand but he told me he needed to consider his finances carefully.”  
“Did that surprise you?” asked Harry “Professor Trank spent a lot of money with you over the years.”  
Schmit shrugged, “It was not my business how he paid for things.”  
“How did he seem at that visit?“  
“Fine. I did not know him that well.”   
“He also made you monthly payments, “observed Severus.  
“He subscribed to our monthly magazine,” Schmit opened a drawer and brought out a copy of a glossy publication which he handed to Severus.   
Severus scanned it quickly “It appears mainly adverts.”  
Schmit looked a little affronted. “There are some very useful articles in there by well-known specialists.”  
“He was paying £40 a month wasn’t he? That seem a lot for this sort of publication.”  
Schmit dislike of Ron/Severus became more evident, “As I said there are articles in the magazine, for the discerning reader, written by specialists. That sort of expertise costs money”  
Out of the corner of his eye, Severus saw a movement in one of the rooms of the shop. A small thin man had entered the clock room and appeared to be methodically checking the time of each clock.  
“You have an assistant,” commented Severus.  
“Gerard, “said Schmit without enthusiasm.  
“Was he here last time Professor Trank visited?” asked Harry.  
Schmit shrugged, “He may have been. “Gerard!”  
The small slim figure scuttled over.   
“These gentlemen want to talk to you about one of our customers, Professor Trank?”  
“Professor Trank?” repeated Gerald blankly.  
“Yes he was very interested in the French antique wand?”  
Gerard’s eyes light up, “Ah yes, you were going to put it aside for him?”  
“Precisely.”  
“How many times did you meet him?” inquired Harry.   
“Just the once when he came in to look at the wand”  
“Really?” interjected Severus. “I got the impression he was a regular customer.”  
“Gerald is new,” explained Schmit.   
“Did you serve him?” asked Harry  
Gerard shook his head. “No, he was here to see Mr Schmit. I escorted him to the office and brought the French wand in and some coffee.”  
“Did you have any conversation with him?”   
Gerard shook his head. “Just a few pleasantries. He said goodbye when he was leaving. He seemed a very pleasant man.”  
Harry nodded clearly disappointed.   
“Mr Potter, it looks like you have come a long way for nothing. Let me at least show you round our store while you are here, “Schmit stood up and gestured to the hexagonal showrooms. “I would be very interested in hearing more about that wand of yours. They say it was twinned with the wand of “he who should not be named.””  
Severus stood up to follow Harry when he saw Gerald heading for the potions showroom., Nodding politely to Schmit who was attempting to tease wand details from Harry, Severus slipped away to the potions room.   
The hexagonal show room was lined with glass shelves full of potion bottles. Some rare antique bottles were empty, other shelves were filled with sought after and in some cases dangerous potions. A few of these Severus guessed would be out of date, were illegal and would probably explode if handled incorrectly. However, remembering that Ron was not a skilled potions master he said nothing.  
“Are you interested in potions Sir?” inquired Gerard.  
“A little. It was not my favourite subject at school. I understand Professor Trank’s subject was potions. Was he interested in these as well as the wands?”  
“He had a quick look round when he was in here to look at the French wand. But he didn’t buy anything.”  
“How long have you worked here?”  
“Less than a month or so,” admitted Gerald.   
“Oh, Who was Mr Schmit’s assitant before then?”  
“He didn’t have one. His mum used to help him, “explained Gerard, taking out his wand and casting a gentle polishing spell on the jars.  
“Really? Did she retire?”  
“Sort of. She’s in a care home now at Krebeck. “  
“I’m sorry to hear that. It must have been very sudden if she was working in the shop a few weeks ago.”  
Gerard shrugged, “I’m not sure. Professor Trank asked the same thing.”  
“Did he? “  
“Yes he seemed very surprised and a bit disappointed not to find her here.”  
“Really.”

They were heading back towards the food market as Severus had admitted he was hungry again and Harry felt that mid-afternoon was definitely time for cake.  
“I need something to cheer me up,” said Harry. “That seems to have been a waste of time.”  
“That is your impression?” said Severus.  
“Yes wasn’t it yours?”  
“I’m not sure, “admitted Severus. “He was very hard to read, but I sensed something.”  
“People are often unnerved at being questioned by the aurors especially in a murder investigation.”  
Severus threw him a look.  
“Sorry, I guess you know that given you were...”Harry’s voice trailed off.  
“It is alright Harry. I have no particular liking for aurors given my past experience but that was my fault and yes they do make people nervous but I think I sensed more than that.”  
“It is not much to go on,” pointed out Harry.  
“Yes I know. There is the of course the issue of his mother.”  
“Mother, whose mother?”  
Severus carefully described his conversation with Gerard.  
“It’s still not much to go on,” said Harry.   
“No, but this swift despatching of his mother to the home and Trank’s interest in her is curious.”  
“It could just be common courtesy,”  
“Maybe” agreed Severus.  
“But you think it could be something more?”  
“Possibly. There was something about him ...”  
“Well we have no other leads, so we might as well follow it up. Did Gerard say where she is?”  
“As a matter of fact he did.”

“It’s just outside Gottingen” exclaimed Harry a few minutes later.  
“Indeed, a quiet and peaceful village, set in lovely countryside,” confirmed Severus.  
“Really? “ said Harry.   
“I recall reading about it in the guidebook.”  
Harry looked at him quizzically.  
“I am here by myself for a most of the time Harry. I have been exploring the countryside at the weekends trying to identify places we might visit, assuming that all your trips to Gottingen are not as busy as this one.”  
“Have you visited Krebeck?”  
“No, it sounds a little too chocolate box.”  
“Can we pop in on the way back to Gottingen? “  
“We are apparating Harry, so I guess we can pop anywhere if you feel up to it?”  
“Always,” said Harry. 

“Are you sure this is the right place? It looks like a miniature version of Hogwarts.”  
“The Crystal Ball Care Home- anticipating the needs of our residents,” read Severus pointing at the sign. “Sounds dreadful.”  
The similarities to Hogwarts ended at the front door.   
“Yuck,” said Harry. “This looks like Umbridge’s sitting room.”   
Severus was forced to agree. The predominate colour of the mini castle entrance hall was pink. Bows cats, dogs and chintz arm chairs were everywhere.  
“Not appealing, I agree,” said Severus. “I do not understand why they think that older people have no taste.”  
“Can I help you?”   
A smart business looking blond in a suit was stood behind a formal looking reception desk. Severus feared she might have heard.   
“Hi,” said Harry engaging full charm mode. “We are hear to see Mrs Schmit.”  
“Are you family?” asked the blond.  
“We know her son,” said Harry ambiguously.   
“You look familiar,” said the blond staring at Harry.  
Severus could see the penny dropping.   
“Harry Potter! What a pleasure. Mrs Schmit will be delighted. We had no idea she knew you. What a treat.”  
Severus had to admit that Harry’s fame could be useful at gaining admission to places. “The ooh it’s Harry Potter” phenomena, often led to the avoidance of awkward questions.  
“Let me see it’s 4 o clock. She’ll be having Kaffe and Kunchen in Dumbledore.”  
“In Dumbledore,” repeated Harry clearly mystified.   
The woman laughed “All our lounges are named after famous wizards, Dumbledore, Merlin, and Karloff.”   
Severus raised his eyebrows at the latter.   
“I’m Helga by the way,” said the woman holding out her hand.   
“Harry Potter and this is Ron Weasley”   
“Do come this way Harry and Ron, I’m sure you could do with some Kaffe and Kunchen after your journey.”   
“Great,” said Severus automatically.  
Harry grinned.

Severus concluded that “Dumbledore” had been designed by someone who had met his former mentor. The décor was garishly bright and there were bowls of what looked suspiciously like sherbets lemons on each table. He wondered what the inside of “Karloff” looked like. Helga weaved her way across the lounge full of elderly witches and wizards to a table by the window.  
“What is Mrs Schmit like?” inquired Harry, clearly wondering how productive this visit was likely to be.  
“Much more together than most. She tends to run the past and present together a little but apart from that she is fine. I understand she was working until recently.”  
“Do you find it surprising that she is here?” inquired Severus.   
Helga paused a few feet short of the chairs. She shrugged and lowered her voice. “People arrive here at various times. Some just don’t want to live by themselves any more even if they could.”  
“Do you see much of her son?”  
“He brought her of course when she arrived. He’s been a couple of times since.”  
Harry nodded and he gestured for them to continue. 

“Harry Potter,” a witch with dirty blond hair and a perm leapt to her feet with surprising agility. Her mannerism reminded Severus forcibly of Molly Weasley.   
“Mrs Schmit, “said Harry politely. “May I introduce you to my friend and colleague Ron Weasley?”   
She nodded warmly towards him eyes still on Harry. Severus thought that Ron must have become quite irritated over the years.  
“We met your son earlier in the afternoon,” continued Harry.  
“Johan, you are friend of my Johan. Look everyone my son’s friend, Harry Potter, has come to take Kaffe and Kunchen with me.”  
The comment provoked a wave of movement. When he entered the room, Severus would have laid good money that a key adjective that could be used to describe its occupants would be shufflers. But he realised that nothing could be further from the truth as he and Harry were subsumed by a tidal wave of the elderly with walking sticks, walking frame and wheelchairs. The next few minutes were pandemonium. Most people exercised some self-restraint in these situations but in the case of this group it was clearly now or never. Severus had to restrain himself from reaching for the Elder Wand. How could he ever have believed his son would welcome this sort of attention? He was particularly tempted to hex one elderly wizard who patted him on the head and called him “sonny.”  
“I think , “ said Helga after Harry has signed autograph books, walking sticks , wheelchairs etc., “We had better go out onto the veranda for tea , so you and Mrs Schmit can talk in peace.”  
“Excellent idea,” agreed Severus.   
The veranda offered a wonderful view down the valley and Helga quickly got Mrs Schmit settled into a cane chair.   
“Do stop fusing, “said Mrs Schmit   
“Kaffee?” suggested Helga.  
“Wonderful, “agreed Harry and Severus simultaneously.

“So you have been just seen my son Johan?” said Mrs Schmit her eyes firmly on the cakes that had just appeared and from which not even Harry could distract her until she had chosen a fat éclair.  
“Johan yes, “said Harry choosing a sticky looking pastry.   
Severus against his better instincts chose a huge plaited pastry affair which had been injected with cream and coated with chocolate.   
“Do you know him well? “  
“Not very admitted, “ Harry. “We have just been to the shop to see him this afternoon.”  
“And he encouraged you to come and see me! He is such a good boy.”  
“I understand you worked with him until very recently?”  
“Yes, I loved that job, I helped with the ordering, deliveries, organising the displays and serving customers.”  
“It must have been very hard work, “observed Harry sympathetically. “And a lot of responsibility.”   
“It was, it was, “ agreed Mrs Schmit. “I loved it. Han,” her face clouded. “But I confused things, times, names and places and Johan would get angry so in the end.” Severus could see the tears welling in her eyes. “Anyway, “she continued pulling herself together, “I am glad you have come. I’m glad Johan is making new friends. He sees so few friends from the old days. The ones that did come were always so nice to me and used to bring me little gifts. “Only the best for old Cheater’s mum. Cheater was such a guy in the old days” That what they used to say. “She looked expectantly at Harry and Severus.  
“I’m afraid I haven’t brought anything, “said Harry apologetically  
She smiled, “But you came to see me, I have so few visitors.”  
“I am sure you were very valuable to Johan, I wanted to ask you about one of his customers, a Professor Trank?”  
“Professor Trank I remember him well from the University in Berlin. A great customer. Bought some wonderful wands from Johan. Very special wands, difficult to get hold off and costing a lot of money.”  
“Do you remember the last time he came in?”  
Madame Schmit closed her eyes for a moment. “August ?”  
“Are you sure?”  
“Yes it was a couple of weeks before I came here. He was one of the last important customers that I served.”  
“What did he buy?” inquired Severus.   
“The wand of a commander?”  
“Commander?”  
“One of Grindelwald’s commanders,” Mrs Schmit clasped a hand over her lips. “Of dear, Han will be so cross, I was not supposed to..”  
“It’s alright, “Harry put a hand on her arm. “We won’t tell anyone, don’t worry.”  
Mrs Schmit relaxed. “Would you like another cake?”  
“I would not mind trying an éclair, “ said Severus before he could stop himself.

“I suggest we head for the woods turn left and apparate straight back to the flat, “suggested Severus as they headed down the drive.   
Harry nodded. “I can see why Schmit sent her here.”  
“She is too indiscreet, “agreed Severus.  
“Defintely. Repeating dear old Johan’s nickname could not have been good for business!” laughed Harry.  
“Indeed,” said Severus. “It would not inspire confidence.”  
“Still, it is an awful thing to do because she’s quite with it most of the time.”  
“But he could not trust her given the line of work he is in. Her vagueness makes her too unpredictable.”  
“I can’t see that it is connected to Trank or Lubricus’ death can you?”  
Severus hesitated. “Not immediately no. “  
“Thought of something?” inquired Harry.  
Severus shook his head irritably. “It is the polyjuice, it is stopping me thinking clearly. Something is bothering me but I can’t put my finger on it. I need to get the polyjuice out is my system all I can think about is food.”  
“I’ll order Pizza when we get back to the flat.”  
“No. I’ll cook. We are eating too much junk food and it isn’t helping”

Severus prepared chicken and green beans and potatoes whilst Harry dealt with a pile of reports that he had collected on the way home.   
“Smells wonderful, “said Harry after twenty minutes or so.   
“I’ll be ready in another 10 minutes or so. How are the reports going?”  
“Slowly, “said Harry  
“What are they?” inquired Severus giving the beans a quick stir.  
“Wand reports.”  
Severus looked puzzled, “I though the test had not identified who had killed Lubricus.”  
“They didn’t but those were just the initial reports. These are the more detailed reports. They track everyone’s geographical movements through the spell they cast.”  
Severus paused. “I did not know you could do that. “  
Harry grinned. “New investigative spell. Very hush, hush. You can only use it on serious suspects in a murder investigation.“  
“I would imagine, “agreed Severus. 

“That was delicious, we have been eating too many take-aways. “  
“We have indeed, “agreed Severus “Mrs Potter will be most displeased if you return home having put a stone on.”  
Harry nodded. “So will Kingsley Did I tell you they have started this new fitness regime? We need to pass a physical once every six months.”  
“6am runs and hours in the gym.”  
Severus laughed as Harry nodded dolefully, “Good for Kingsley.”  
“What’s for pudding?” asked Harry.   
“Fruit, “said Severus sternly.  
Harry returned to his paper work while Severus washed up and made coffee. He relented and cut them both a small slice of fruit cake.   
“I am glad to have got the Weasley polyjuice out of my system or I would probably order a pizza right now.” Severus observed as he put the plates on the table.  
Harry laughed, “I never need to worry about food when I am working with Ron he is the best snack procurer I have ever come across. I remember one time…” Harry stopped eyes on the page below him.  
“What is it?” asked Severus picking up his expresso.  
“That’s odd.”  
“What?”  
“I was double checking down Lubricus wand tracking report. His last wand movement was at his apartment in Gottingen but he appears to have been in that traditional German food market we were in earlier today a day or so before he died.”  
Severus shrugged. “He was probably doing the same thing we were doing and checking up on the shop where Trank was spending lots of his money.”  
“Maybe,” agreed Harry. “But he would have already have had the evidence from the Cayman’s why did he need the other information?”   
Severus shrugged, “Tying up loose ends?”  
“Does he strike you as that sort of chap?” asked Harry.   
“Not really,” agreed Severus.   
“Also, how did he know that was where Trank spent lots of his money? How did he get access to his bank accounts, he was not an auror any more.”  
“Friend at headquarters?”  
“Not that I have spotted,” said Harry.  
“So does that mean we need to go back to Munich to interview Schmit again?”  
Harry sighed, “I guess. But why would he kills Lubricus? He was not doing anything illegal in supplying the wands, even if Lubricus had found out about them.”  
“Well that wand of Grindelwald’s commanderis contraband,”observed Severus.  
“Would that lead him to kill an ex auror?” asked Harry.   
“Unlikely. It would probably be just a fine wouldn’t it ?“  
“Yeah, definitely.”  
“Alright, I’ll get the coffee flasks ready for the morning.”


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 14

Severus had urged Harry to make an early start on the pretext of him being back at the warehouse to do some business that afternoon, but his in reality he was keen to sample the tradition breakfast fare at the foot market. So by 8.30 they were at a stall buying fresh warm bread.   
“This is a lot like working with Ron, “observed Harry. “A culinary tour of the food sellers linked to the investigation. I am an expert on several areas of the UK.”  
“This is an unanticipated side effect of Polyjuice potion,”observed Severus.   
Although they sampled a number of delicacies, they were heading down the narrow alley towards the Magicum Taberna by 9am.   
“He might not be there yet, “warned Harry. “He seems the sort of chap who would make his assistant open up.”  
“That is certainly possible,” agreed Severus thinking that they could pop back to the market for another coffee and maybe a pastry if that were the case. He stumbled into the back of Harry.   
“Potter you can’t just …..”Severus stopped. The shop had disappeared. The space where the shop had been had disappeared and the two properties on either side appeared to have been squashed and stretched to fill the gaps.  
“What the?” said Harry.  
Severus slid the Elder Wand discreetly into his hand and tested the magical residue. It was very faint.   
“Obliteration spell, very powerful, dark magic. Would be undetectable with my normal wand.”  
“I don’t understand why he would do this?”  
“He wanted to disappear. Permanently, by the looks of it. It was a Death Eater failsafe spell. Get away from the authorities, leave no clues “  
“But why?”  
Severus nudged him, “Look who’s here.”  
Harry turned to see Gerard with his mouth wide open walking up the street.  
“Hi”  
“What? where?”  
“I take it you were not given formal notice?” Severus observed.   
“Where’s the shop? “  
“Gone. I’m afraid,” said Severus drily “And your job with it I would imagine.”   
“I take it Mr Schmit had not warned you he was planning to leave?” asked Harry.  
Cleary stunned, Gerard shook his head. His eyes riveted on the place where the shop had been.   
“Saves on redundancy costs, “muttered Severus.   
“You look like you need a coffee,” said Harry.   
“Or something stronger, “muttered Severus.  
“Let’s find somewhere to sit and chat.”  
“There’s a Cafe on the main street.”  
“Lead the way,” encouraged Harry.  
“Cake and pastries !” thought Severus/Ron  
Severus bought two coffees and a hot chocolate, while Harry got the man settled at the back of the café by the fire.   
“Drink your chocolate and have pastry, “encouraged Harry. “You’ve had a shock”  
Severus stirred his coffee and discreetly chose a chocolate twist pastry.  
“Has he left for good do you think?” asked Gerrld  
Harry hesitated and glanced at Severus, who nodded.  
“I think so yes. I take it he has never done anything like this before?”   
Gerard shook his head. “He’s been in that shop since I was a child. “ He took a sip of hot chocolate. “I’m going need a new job aren’t I?”   
Harry nodded sympathetically.   
“Can you tell me what happened yesterday after we left?”  
Gerard shrugged, “He questioned me closely about the questions you asked me,”he said looking at Severus. “He didn’t seem very pleased that I had mentioned his mother, but that was it. After about ten minutes he went back to checking the stock and doing his research.”  
“What time did you leave?” asked Harry.  
“About 6pm. I waved goodbye. He ignored me as a matter of fact, a patronus had just arrived.”  
“Who was it from?”  
“His mother’s care home I think, it was a snake I’ve seen it a couple of times before,” said Gerard. “My mum’s going to be annoyed that I have lost my job. She thought it would be steady employment.”  
“You can tell your mum he is being investigated by the aurors, she will probably be pleased that you have to move on,” pointed out Harry. 

After another hot chocolate, a few questions about Lubricus who he had never met, and more reassurance Gerard headed home. As soon as he was at the door, Harry headed outside to the alley behind the café and discreetly cast a patronus which he briefed with a short report on the discovery and sent it on its way to head office.   
“Why don’t you go back inside and have another pastry, “said Harry kindly “It could be a while before I get a reply.”  
Severus was momentarily annoyed. “Is that what Ron and you normally do?”  
Harry smiled and nodded.   
“I’ll get a table by the window.”  
It was half an hour before Harry reappeared. Severus was relieved. His normal self was too embarrassed to order any more pastries, whatever his body was telling him.  
“Well?”  
“He’s definitely done a runner. He’s cleared out all his accounts overnight.”  
Severus nodded. “Does it look like he had been planning it for a while?”  
Harry shook his head sadly. “Nope. It looks like he took a decision yesterday afternoon.”  
“After our visit?” confirmed Severus.   
Harry nodded.   
“Looks like we hit a nerve.”  
“Yes but how?” mused Harry. “What are we missing? I mean we only realised last night that he might have seen Lubricus shortly before he died and we got nothing to tie him to Trank’s death.”  
“What did HQ say?”  
Harry sighed. “Follow all leads. Which means we have to go back to the care home again.”  
Severus groaned.   
Harry nodded. “No choice, I’m afraid.”  
Severus nodded. “Let’s get on with it then.”

Severus noticed immediately that Helga, the receptionist, did not look surprised to see them.   
“I’m afraid we need to see Mrs Schmit again for a few minutes,” confirmed Harry after the initial exchange of greetings.   
“I had a feeling we’d be seeing you two again. She’s still in her room, you might find it best to talk to her there in private.”   
“You were expecting us?” observed Severus.  
Helga paused, “Yes I thought you might arrive sometime today. I’m not sure she will talk to you though. “  
”Why’s that? “asked Severus although he feared he already knew the answer.   
“Her son arrived shortly after you left yesterday.”  
“You let him know of our visit? “  
The receptionist nodded. “He’d left strict instructions that he was to be informed about all his mum’s visitors.”  
“Is that normal?” asked Harry.   
Helga shrugged, “Some relatives request that we do so but not many.”  
“He was unhappy she had seen us?” observed Severus.   
Helga nodded. “He was very cross and she was quite upset. He apologised afterwards but the damage was done. “  
“We’ll try not to upset her any further but I’m afraid we will need to ask her a few questions,” said Harry firmly.

Severus knew immediately that they would get little out of her, but Harry persisted gently for almost an hour using all the Harry Potter charm he could muster. Mrs Schmit was wearing an elaborate red velvet house robe. She was fully made up and Severus judged she had anticipated their visit and had applied her war paint accordingly.  
“I understand your son paid you a visit yesterday evening?”  
“Johan is a dutiful boy. He is very good to his old mum. Look at the wonderful care he has arranged, “ she gestured round the room.   
“I’m sure he’s very thoughtful, “agreed Harry. “We need to see Johan again to ask him a few more questions but when we went to his shop this morning, it had gone. “  
“He’s gone away on business that’s all. He finds the most remarkable objects. “  
“Do you have any idea where he might have gone?”  
“South America probably. They have some wonderful wands there.”  
“Did he tell you that was where he was going?”  
“I didn’t interrogate him Mr Potter! He’s a big boy now. Old enough to look after himself.”  
“Was Johan angry last night?”  
“Angry,” she repeated opening her eyes wide. “Why should he be angry?”  
“Because you had spoken to us”  
She laughed. “My son is a busy man. My visitors are not of the least importance to him, he had far more pressing concerns.“  
Harry changed tack.  
“When you were still in the shop, do you remember a visit from an auror, called Lubricus?”  
The signs of recognition were barely perceptible but Severus spotted them without difficulty.  
“I don’t recall the name, so many customers.”  
“He was an investigator,” said Harry. “Maybe wanting to know about one of your clients and embezzlement?”  
For a moment, Severus got a sense of confusion then nothing.   
“I see so many people and my memory is failing, as Johan says I get confused, I can’t help you any further.”   
And that, was that. Harry persisted for another twenty minutes or so and then said his goodbyes.

“I am not covering myself with glory in this investigation, “said Harry ruefully.   
“She was determined not to help. “Said Severus. “Schmit had clearly warned her off.”  
“Was she lying when she said she didn’t know where he is?” asked Harry hopefully.   
Severus shook his head. “I’ don’t think so, she was surprised when you said the shop had disappeared.”  
“Great ! “said Harry.   
“It is hardly surprising that he has not told her, “said Severus. “She loves to gossip. She did remember Lubricus.”  
“Just didn’t want to help us after Johan had told her off,” said Harry bitterly.   
“Possibly. But the implications are interesting.”  
“Why?”  
“Thank about it Harry. We have Lubricus in that food market on 30 August?”  
Harry nodded.  
“So, she was in the Care Home by then.”  
Harry’s eyelight up, “So she must have met him before then. Lubricus visited them more than once.”  
“Or at least once but before his trip to Munich in late August. “  
Harry nodded, “We now know that Lubricus visited the Taberna but not necessarily on 30 August.”  
“Excactly. “ Severus nodded, “Plus from her reaction, she seem afraid for some reason and surprised. “  
“Why was she surprised?”  
“I don’t know,” said Severus.

“Will you be back?” asked Helga  
“I’m not sure,” admitted Harry honestly.   
“Has Mr Schmit done a runner? “ she inquired shrewdly.  
Harry looked surprised.   
“He paid 6 months up front last night,”she explained. “Classic signs of someone clearing the decks. “I suspect that will be the last we see of him. “  
“What about his mother?”  
She shrugged, “We might get paid via some anonymous bank account, we’ve had cases like that before, or we hear nothing further and have to apply to the Ministry for a grant to cover the cost. “  
“Which do you think it will be in this case?” asked Severus curiously.   
She paused, “He’ll find a way to pay,” she concluded.  
“Really?” said Severus surprised.  
“He doesn’t’ like her much, “agreed Helga. “And he gets annoyed with her, Talks too much doesn’t she?”   
Harry nodded.   
“But I sense an overwhelming debt, so I reckon that guilt, whatever it is will mean we get the money to keep mummy in the style to which she has become accustomed, even if we don’t see him again.”  
“Will she mind do you think?” asked Harry.  
Helga shook her “She’ll pretend he’s away on business, or touring the world. It’s amazing the excuses they’ll come up with. “  
“Well thank you for your help. “  
Harry moved towards the door.  
“Are you going to track him down?“  
“We’re going to try, “said Harry.  
“Has he done something wrong? “  
“I’m sorry we can’t.. “  
“It’s just..”  
Harry turned back towards her.   
She blushed  
“I went out with him a couple of times, just for dinner. I don’t know if he really liked me or she just wanted to ensure his mum was well looked after.”  
Harry waited, eyes alert completely unthreatening.   
“It was something about him you know. It was like he was putting on an act. Talking about things and places he had read about rather than experienced. “  
Severus looks sceptical.  
“I can tell you know,” she said defensively. “It is something you get a lot of exposure to in this job. The resident tells you about their lives and it is usually a mixture of truth and wishful thinking. Over the years you get to sense which is which.”  
Harry nodded encouragingly “You thought he wasn’t genuine.”  
“Yeah, that’s right. “  
“Any idea where he might have gone to if he has disappeared?“  
“He talked about so many places, places he read about. The only time he seemed genuine was when he was talking about his business and his early childhood in Gottingen.”  
“Gottingen?”  
“Yeah, he lived on a farm near Knutsbuhren. Seemed genuinely fond of it. A time he was happy, you know?”


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 15  
On their return to Gottingen, Severus headed for the warehouse. There was plenty of day to day business to catch up on as well as progressing his plans for the deal either the US. For a few hours he happily set aside the investigation and immersed himself in paperwork.   
It was 6pm when Harry’s patronus arrived.   
“Ron is needed at auror headquarters in twenty minutes time. Meet at the back of the King’s Head pub.”  
Severus swore softly. The King’s Head was an English pub he was always careful to avoid for fear of being recognised. He flicked his wand to lock his safe and then apparated to central Gottingen. Harry was waiting in the alley behind the pub.   
“I trust this pub is patronised by the wizards.”  
Harry nodded, “All the aurors drink here. I’m sorry to drag you away from the warehouse but Peck wanted everyone in for a 6.30 briefing including you.”  
“He is taking over the case?”   
“Not exactly,” said Harry. “I’m still in charge but he’s authorised a raid and he wants to supervise.”  
“Raid?”  
“We think we may have identified the farm house, the receptionist mentioned. Apparently there is a wizarding farming hamlet to the east of Gottingen.”  
“But why do you think it could belong to Schmit’s family and even if it was his childhood home, what makes you think he is likely to be there now?”  
“When I got back that this afternoon, I reported to Peck. I may have played up what the receptionist told us a bit,” admitted Harry ruefully.  
“You are embarrassed that Schmit has scarpered?” said Severus understandingly.  
Harry nodded easily. “I had to give him something.”  
Severus nodded, “In future I would advise the bald truth. Anything other than a stark assessment when briefing senior managers, can lead to an inadvisable course of action.”  
“Yeah, I realise that now,” admitted Harry.  
“I know it can be tough, when a manager is staring at you hopefully,” said Severus gently. “Truth to power is a vital skill. You have never lacked courage.”  
Harry nodded and cleared his throat, suspecting that truth to power had not always been Severus own approach with Voldemort.  
“Anyway, Peck set the desk investigators the task of trying to identify the property. As luck would have it, one of them has a grandma who lives in the hamlet and she had been gossiping about a neighbour they never saw, who came and went at strange times of day and never answered the door. “  
“They are reaching. That can’t possibly mean it is him,” warned Severus. “There could be a number of reasons why someone would do that.”  
Harry nodded “That’s what I said. But what clinched it was that the house was supposed to have been sold thirty years ago or so, according to the Grandma. She remembers the sale and everything but according to the deeds lodged with the Gottingen Ministry the house has never changed hands.“  
“The sale was a charade. “  
“Looks like it.”  
“That is odd,” agreed Severus.   
“Well Peck thinks it is worth a look, so pre raid briefing at 6.30. Raid midnight. He wants us both there as independent investigators.”  
Severus nodded. “By the way what is name of the family on the deeds?”  
“Unreadable,” said Harry “Water damage.”  
“Very convenient. “  
“But what does the grandma say? “  
“She said that the last family who lived there was name Braun,”  
“Wonderful! That really narrows it down,” said Severus.

Severus slid into a set at the back of the hall. He nodded amiably to the other aurors but pretended to study the briefing pack on the chair to void conversation. The pack seem to consist of various maps and diagrams of what Severus assumed to be the farm buildings.  
“Take a seat and let’s get down to it, “ said Peck.  
He allowed a moment or two for latecomers to grab a chair before he continued.   
“Alright, I want to use this briefing to bring everyone up to speed on our foray to the farm tonight. I am going to ask Harry, who you all know, to outline progress on the investigation to date before we go over the plan for tonight. Harry...”  
“Thanks, “said Harry standing up “This is a summary of the investigation so far. Lubricus’ body was found in the river at Beuren…”  
Severus allowed his attention to wander while Harry went over the salient points of the case. The Gottingen auror team were, Severus concluded, experienced. They all looked to have been recruited in the post Grindelwald clear out. The majority would be focused on collecting their pension.  
“Can I ask a question?”   
Severus swivelled round to look at a short, stocky bloke with a red beard at the far left of the room   
“Of course,” said Harry.  
“I can see that this guy Schmit could well be dodgy. His decision to do a runner confirms that something is not right but want makes you think he was involved in Lube’s or Trank’s death. Cos as far as I can see there is no real evidence. In fact he stood to lose from Trank’s death.”   
“You’re right Joe, “said Harry. “He could have done a flit for other reasons.”  
“But , “ said the Joe, pulling his beard. “If that is the case, then we’re no nearer solving the murders than we were a couple of weeks ago.”  
There was a murmur in the hall. Severus scowled at the bloke. But Harry was unperturbed.   
“That’s right, that’s why tonight is so important, if it is him we need to catch him even if it is only to eliminate him from our inquiries. “  
“Right, “said Peck. “Now you are all briefed on the background and I want to walk you through tonight’s operation. The home team are going to be responsible for getting us inside the house and securing it. Harry and his colleague Ron are going to search the premises and interview Schmit if he is there. “  
“Why the split of responsibilities?” asked the Joe whom Severus was starting to find annoying.   
“We still don’t know who killed Lubricus. Until we do I want external investigators leading this operation. That means Ron and Harry. I don’t want anyone taking any executive decisions without their say so. Is that clear.”  
There was a general murmur of agreement.   
“Alright, get out the plans of the farm from your briefing pack and let’s work out who is going where. Harry and Ron, I want you here at the farm gate until we give you the signal that the building is secure.”

It was just before midnight that Severus found himself at the gate to the farm with Harry. After the briefing meeting, they had milled around the station. Severus would have found the wait interminable had “Ron” not been busy enjoying all the free snacks.   
“Have you done many of these?” inquired Severus.  
“A couple,” admitted Harry but I’m usually one of the ground troops securing the building.”  
Severus saw a flash of light down the farm track.  
“That’s Peck sending his patronus round the troops to start them dismantling the wards and easing into the building. Should take fifteen to twenty minutes.”  
“But it was nothing like that. Within three to four minutes Severus could see a plethora of patronus returning to the head auror.   
“That’s people signalling that they are safely inside, “explained Harry.   
“Didn’t take long, “commented Severus.   
“No, “agreed Harry puzzled. “I’m not sure what’s going on.”  
“Let’s hope it is not the wrong property…..”

“Come. “ Peck beckoned to them.   
Severus followed Harry through the gate and up the track.  
“We are in?” asked Harry eagerly.   
“The outer perimeter of the house is secure. The team is waiting inside by the doors and windows. They will their position until you and Ron are in place to oversee the advance into the interior.”  
“You have met no resistance?” inquired Severus.  
“We have met nothing, no wards, no anything.”  
“Really!” exclaimed Harry.   
“I take it this chap did not strike you as the sort of person to leave his property unwarded.”   
“Definitely not, “interjected Severus. “Are we sure that...”  
“It is the correct house,” confirmed Peck.  
“But possibly not the right one, “observed Harry disappointed.   
“Possibly not, “agreed Peck. “But we need to continue our search to be sure.”  
Harry and Severus slipped in through the front door. It was a traditional German farm house, thick walls. The aurors inside were waiting in darkness.   
“I’m going to give the order to begin a systematic sweep of the interior,” muttered Peck.  
Harry nodded.  
“My team will alert you to anything unusual.”  
Severus instinctively slipped his wand into his hand as the search began. Death Eater raids had been noisy, full of screams and fire. This was silent. The clock in the hall ticked interminably. Minute after minute past. All that could be heard was the opening and closing of doors. Surely there could be no-one here?  
After ten minutes a steady trickle of patronus of all different shapes and sizes flowed back. Each one appeared repeated the same words “room secure.” After 15 minutes the Peck began to fidget and sent out another patronus. Five minutes later a patronus that looked very much like a lamb tiptoed back.   
“Can’t get past the wards.“  
Peck swore softly and gestured to the lamb to lead him back to the caster.   
“Stay here, “he whispered to Harry and Severus.  
The clock continued to tick. Minutes past and Severus could fell Harry growing tenser. He reached out and squeezed his shoulder.   
“Relax, “ he whsieperd. “Let Peck do his job. You are the trainee here even if you are in charge of the investigation.”  
The tension in Harry’s shoulders eased slightly.   
Another five minutes passed before an eagle flew silently down the corridor towards them.   
“Come, “it whispered before circling back slowly the way it had come.   
Harry and Severus padded silently along the corridor behind it. At the end of the hall was a flight of stairs, the eagle flew upwards, Harry and Severus followed. There were four doors on the first floor all were open and an auror stood silently in each. The eagle continued up a narrower staircase to a second smaller landing. Peck and one of his team were stood in front of a narrow door.   
“Ah Harry, the rest of the house appears empty. We believe this door leads to the attic but we cannot get through.”  
No wonder they had been waiting for so long. Peck must be truly stuck if he and his team were seeking the advice of a trainee on dismantling wards. He suspected he would not have done so even now if it had not been for the power of the Harry Potter legend.   
“Would you like me to try?” asked Harry tentatively.  
Peck nodded “If you would.”  
Severus stood back as Harry drew his wand. He watched as Harry spent the next twenty minutes probing the wards without success.   
“I need to confer with Ron a few minutes, “ said Harry.   
Peck nodded.  
Harry stepped towards him and put his hand on his arm. “They’re impenetrable. I’ve not seen anything like it since the wards on the Slytherin common room. Could you?”  
“You would like me to have a look?”   
Harry nodded.   
Severus turned away for a moment deftly switching wands. Elder Wand in hand he advanced on the door. If he was to assist Harry and progress this investigation, he needed to get through but he did not want to attract too much attention to the power of the wand in his hand.   
Severus gently tested the wards. He almost recoiled. Harry assessment of their strength was correct. They were thick, black, sticky and heavy with a sense of evil, impregnated with a darkness Severus had not felt since the death of the Dark Lord. Some form of magical password was need to penetrate them but the signature was not Voldemort’s so the mark on Severus arm would not ease his passage. They would only be breached by overwhelming force.   
He turned back to Harry and lent in close.   
“Can you create a distraction?” he whispered.   
A moment later there was the sound of footsteps on the staircase. The aurors and Harry swung round, wands pointing down the stairs  
“Who has left his post? “hissed Peck angrily.  
Severus seized his chance and using the least power he believed was needed to do the job blasted through the wards.   
The aurors turned immediately back to face the door but the distraction had been enough to prevent them witnessing the full force of the blast.   
Severus reached forward and placed his hand on the door which swung open to reveal an even narrower set of stairs.   
Peck looked at him curiously.   
“Impressive “he said.  
“Ron” nodded politely and stepped back.   
Peck stepped through the door and placed his foot on the first step. Wand drawn he beckoned Harry and Severus to follow him. Severus made to go first, paused and gestured to Harry to proceed. His son was not a child anymore and he was sure that in this situation Harry rather than Ron would lead the way.   
The attic room was small and tomb like.   
“Luminous, “said Peck. His wand flickered and went out. “Luminous, “he repeated loudly. His wand flickered again and then went out. “Harry, Ron, “ he invited. He seemed unsurprised a moment later when Ron’s wand flickered into life whilst Harry’s experienced the same problems as his own.   
“Useful colleague to have around, “said Peck gesturing towards Ron.   
Harry nodded uneasily. 

Peck stepped towards the bed and cast a standard monitoring spell.   
“Minimal life signs, “ Peck observed. He turned his wand towards the end of the bed   
“Expecto patronum,” The eagle hovered once again in mid-air. “Go find the auror surgeon and tell him to get here quickly as possible,” The eagle glided away.  
“Harry,” he beckoned.   
Harry who had gone rather white approached the bed.   
“Is this the man you interviewed in Munich?”  
Severus saw Harry swallow then nod. Severus knew what he was thinking: corpse number three.  
“That’s Schmit,” confirmed Harry.   
Severus slipped round to the other sign of the bed and unbidden cast a series of spell over the man. The life signs were there but very faint.   
Peck was examining the bedside table. “Some sort of poison I think,” he observed sniffing a green potions bottle.   
“May I?” said Severus/Ron.   
Peck hesitated and then handed over the bottle.   
Severus sniffed the bottle briefly and cast a faint levitating spell.A few drops of the potion floated out of the top of the bottle and levitated in mid-air.   
“Wolfbane,” concluded Severus immediately. He bent back over Schmit. “He is pretty far gone but it might be possible to rouse him if we act immediately. Excuse me.”   
Severus apparated back to his warehouse and slipped inside his potions lab. Shortly after he had taken up residence in Gottingen, he had undertaken a massive brewing exercise mimicking his personal stock at Hogwarts. Once inside the warehouse, he retrieved a bottle of winter roots potion to which he had added a twist of his own. He doubted whether it could produce a cure but he might be able to bring Schmit round long enough for Harry to question him. The key question was whether Schmit had been forced fed Wolfbane or had taken it of his own volition. Normally, with a room locked from the inside the former was indicated but the wards and the slow death might suggest another solution. Glasping the winter roots potion in his hand, he apparated back to the small attic room.   
Harry and Schmit were at the end of the bed watching silently. Severus nodded reassuringly to Harry who gave a ghost of a smile. In Severus absence, the auror surgeon had arrived and was busily monitoring vital signs and searching his bag for anything that could be of possible use. The hands scrabbling in the bag and the frantic wand waving revealed he was struggling.   
“Perhaps I might be of assistance?” suggested Severus softly.   
The surgeon looked up, failed to recognise him, but concluded correctly that he was working with Harry.   
“You know what this is?”  
“Wolfbane poisoning, “said Severus confidently.   
“Then there is nothing to be done. His vital signs are too weak anyway,” he concluded wearily.   
Severus placed a hand on his arm and gently pushed him to one side. He slipped the the potion out if his pocket and gently raised Schmit’s head and put the bottle to his lips.   
“What are you giving him?” asked the surgeon sharply.   
“A winter roots potion.”  
“Winter roots potion, what do you expect that to do?”  
“He is nearly dead, what does it matter?” pointed out Severus. He felt rather than saw Peck cast a sharp glance at Harry but he said nothing. He continued to feed tiny drops of the potion into the man’s mouth, then with a flick of his wand he forced him to swallow.   
For thirty second there was no change and then Schmit moved his head. A slight movement at first and then more pronounced.   
The surgeon sucked in his breadth. “How did you? “  
Severus held up his hand and the man’s eyes open.   
“Harry, “ said Severus sharply. “Quickly, this is only temporary.”  
Harry, closely followed by Peck moved to the side of the bed  
“Mr Schmit, who did this to you?” asked Harry urgently bending low.   
“Did this?” rasped Schmit “I did this – who do you think?”  
“You took the Wolfbane?” said Harry carefully.   
“Better than being dragged off to prison by Harry Potter.”  
“Why would I drag you off to prison?” asked Harry.  
Schmit made no response, his eyes beginning to close.   
“Harry,” said Severus urgently touching the potion to the man’s lips again.  
“I need to know, did you kill the auror Lubricus?” asked Harry bluntly.   
“Care home fees only paid six months, “ Schmit whispered.  
“We’ll sort it out,” promised Peck. “If you answer the question.”  
Did you kill the auror?” Harry repeated.   
Schmit gave a slight nod of his head without opening his eyes.   
“And Trank?” asked Harry.  
Schmit moved his head again.  
“We need to hear the words, “ said Peck without emotion.   
“No charges against my mother, “  
Harry looked confused “Was she involved in the killings?”  
“No,” Schmit coughed.”But no charges.”  
Harry glanced at Peck who nodded.  
“No charges, I promise. Did you kill Trank?”  
“Both, “ Schmit spluttered. “I killed both.”  
“But why?” asked Harry urgently.   
Schmit opened his eyes. A terrible sound spewed out of his lips.  
Severus realised he was laughing.   
“You don’t know?”  
Harry shook his head.  
“Trank was nosey. Auror was just doing his job I suppose...”  
Schmit’s eyes began to close.   
“Can you?” Harry looked up at Severus urgently   
But Severus shook his head. He laid Schmit’s head back down on the pillow and closed his eyes. He cast a monitoring spell and the looked up at Harry and shook his head.

“Come,” said Peck. Let’s go down to the sitting room,” he put his arm on Harry’s. “We’ll take care of the body,” he gestured to the surgeon.  
The surgeon nodded eyeing Severus warily. “You’ll have my report in 48 hours although what I am going to say about him being temporarily brought back from the dead, I am unsure.”  
“I am sure Ron here will give you the name of the potion for your records.”  
Severus gave a brief nod. “Do you have a note pad?”

When he joined Harry in the lounge, he found the room crammed with Gottingen aurors. Harry was sat on the sofa looking dazed.   
“Alright, our perpetrator has confessed, but ladies and gentleman I would like to fill out my report with a few details about means and motive. I want this place searched from top to bottom,” instructed Peck.  
“What are we looking for guv?”  
“Any signs of illegal activity of any kind and any link to either Lubricus or Trank. Get to it. Mr Potter and I will be in here reflecting on the case.”  
Once the aurors team had levered themselves out of the room, Peck headed to a drinks cabinet and pulled out a bottle of firewhisky and three glasses. He unscrewed the top and handed it to Severus.   
“This okay to drink?”  
Severus sniffed it and then flicked his wand over it and nodded.   
Peck poured three generous measures and motioned to Severus to take a seat. After a moment’s hesitation he sat next to Harry and slung his arm around his shoulder.   
Harry, have a drink,” he said firmly. That roused Harry who picked up the glass and took a sip. Severus glanced at Peck.   
Peck raised an eyebrow and Severus dropped his arm and modulated his tone.  
“Come on mate, “he said in his best Ron voice. “Have a drink.”

“Harry, you have brought this investigation to a successful conclusion, for which I thank you, “ said Peck after the firewhisky had warmed them through.  
“There was only one body to begin with and now there are three,” pointed out Harry.   
“Happens sometimes. Looks like we got our guy and saved Gottingen the cost of a trial.”  
Harry nodded. “But none of it makes any sense.”  
“Happens like that sometimes but our job is to catch them not understand them. We’ve got a clear confession that is what matters.”  
Harry nodded but appeared unconvinced.   
“Harry, from what I have seen you have a great career ahead of you, but you are going to need to learn some professional detachment. “  
Harry nodded.   
“Also I and your bosses at the Ministry in London earn more than you do. We are paid for the extra responsibility that we carry. Do not take everything on yourself.”  
Harry nodded again and the tension in his shoulders eased a fraction.

Peck refilled all three glasses, and as his team gutted the house around them, he launched into a series of amusing ancedotes about his career. As Severus watched, Harry gradually relaxed aided by the second glass of firewhisky.   
After about three quarters of an hour, Joe the auror with the red beard,whom Severus had taken such a dislike to in the original briefing, appeared to deliver a short report.   
“We’ve completed the initial search. We’ve found details of the Swizz bank account where I assume he has stowed his money,an aeroplane ticket to Mexico and Lubricus’ travel documents. We’ve also found this, “he handed over a small brown very old cardboard box. “ It was open on his study desk, looks like he had been going through it.”  
Peck put the box on the coffee table and Severus and Harry leaned forwards. It was filled with old photographs, a couple of identity cards, old passports and the house deeds.   
“Han Weber”, said Peck peering at an ID card he flicked his wand over the pucture muttering a spell that was unfamiliar to Severus.  
“Age progression spell, “ whispered Harry.  
After a moment Peck nodded clearly satisfied with the result.   
“Born Gottingen 1920. Deeds are in his name. Looks like this was our guy’s real name. Must have changed it for some reason. “ Peck passed the document to Harry.  
“These look like family photographs from his childhood, “said Harry pointing at the box.   
Peck nodded lifting the photos onto the table he pulled out a slim piece of paper from underneath.  
“It’s a Will, “said Peck. He scanned down it. “Leaves everything to his son. “  
“Wonder why he changed his name?” said Harry, passing the card to Severus. “Was he wanted for something?”  
Peck shook his head. “I’ve been in this job for nearly forty years. The name means nothing to me. He is not on our most wanted list as far as I know. “  
“He won’t be,” said Severus slowly staring down. “Your lists are too recent and in any case history thinks he is dead.”  
“What do you mean?” asked Harry.   
“Do you remember our chat with his mother?” said Severus.   
Harry nodded.   
“She kept using his nickname, do you remember?”  
“Yeah Cheater, we thought his friends must it to describe his business practices. “  
“It is not cheater Harry, she was saying Cheetah as in the animal. “  
Severus turned and look at Peck and saw a look of recognition pass across his face. He turned back to Harry.   
“You know I have been eating a lot of history in recent months.”  
“The conflict with Grindelwald, yes I remember you telling me.”  
“Cheetah was one of Grindlewald’s most notorious commanders. Middle ranking not top level, but well known to those who understand the period. He supposedly died at the end of the war. “  
“You think Han was him.”  
“Sounds possible. I will need to double check my books but it is possible.”  
“So he killed himself because he thought we were onto him,” said Peck. “Placed his money in a Swizz account so it would go directly to his son.”  
“So we wouldn’t try to confiscate it,” added Harry.  
Severus nodded.   
“But,” said Harry. “Why did he kill Lubricus and Trank.”  
“We may never know for sure, “said Severus. “For some reason he must have felt they were onto him. “  
“Probably his mother, “said Harry.   
“Exactly, if she let his nickname slip in front of one of them they might have recognised him,” agreed Peck.  
“It is probable that Trank did, “said Severus. “When we searched his rooms he had a lot of histories of the Grindelwald era. I have read some of those myself.”  
“But what about Lubricus?” said Harry.   
“For some reason Schmit must have believed he was onto him as well. Maybe he thought Trank had tipped him off to distract from the embezzlement. I am sure Schmit was lying when he claimed not to know about that. Bringing in a war criminal would have been a huge deal for Lubricus.”  
Peck nodded. “Big result. Lots of publicity.”  
“Good for business, “said Harry  
“Very, “agreed Severus.   
“Then when we turned up and went and talked to his mum he panicked. “  
Severus nodded.   
“But why did he killed himself, why did he not go to Mexico?”  
Peck shrugged.   
Severus licked lips. “He may have just been tired Harry, tired of running and living a lie. All takes energy and he was an old man. “  
Harry nodded “I guess so.”


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 16  
The next morning Severus left Harry asleep and headed back to the warehouse. Peck had ordered Harry to take the day off whilst his team catalogued their findings at the farm and tied up some loose ends.  
“I will have the reports delivered to your apartment so you can work on your final submisison. “  
Severus feeling a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, threw himself energetically into preparations for the contract with the Americans. A new and successful life beckoned although he was saddened by the thought that Harry would have to return to London shortly. When he returned home at 6pm, the living room was covered with papers and on the coffee table lay, what Severus assumed, was Harry’s half written report. The dining room table was set for dinner and Harry was in the kitchen making pasta. He was humming gently as he stirred the sauce. Severus judged that he was not the only one whose shoulders were feeling a great deal lighter.   
Over dinner, Severus took the opportunity to describe in detail the deal he was entering into with the Americans and his plans to develop the business as a result.   
“You know how useless I am with technology, but it sounds great,” commented Harry enthusiastically.   
“It is an important opportunity, “said Severus. “The potential market is significant.”  
“Will you have to take on a lot more staff?”  
Severus nodded. “Production staff and in due course research staff. The bigger the profits the more we can plough into research and development. “  
“I can’t wait for you to show me round next time I’m over. “  
“When are you going back?”  
Harry dropped his eyes “Day after tomorrow”  
Severus kept his face impassive. “Good, Mrs Potter will be glad to see you.”  
Harry nodded.   
“Lots of plans to make. “  
“If it’s a boy I am going to call him Severus. “  
“No, “said Severus immediately. “Eldest son. It should be James. “  
“But I want to name...”  
“Second son,” said Severus “If you must.”  
“You think we’ll have another?” said Harry horrified.  
“At least, Mrs Weasely will be expecting it.”  
Harry put his head in his hands.   
“It will be alright, Harry,” said Severus patting his hand. “You have defeated Voldemort, how difficult can it be?”

Severus volunteered to clear up after the meal while Harry got on with his report. He would miss Harry a ridiculous amount but now the fear of being investigated for murder had gone and the US contract was becoming real he knew he would have much to occupy his time. Harry had done well with the Gottingen aurors and no doubt they would be happy to see him again.   
“Oh God, “   
Severus looked up, Harry was staring transfixed at the papers infront of him.   
“What is it?” inquired Severus.  
“You remember Lubricus was looking for a missing father? The son’s name was Leon Suche.”  
Severus stepped back into the living room. “And?” Severus tried to recall what might have caused Harry to have looked like he had seen the light.  
“Where I have put Schmit’s will?” Harry rifled through his box of papers. “Here it is.” I leave everything I have to my son Leon.” Where’s my notes of my interview with Leon Suche?” Harry scrambled around. “That’s it. Leon told me had taken his mothers name. His father’s name was Weber.”  
“Is that why Schmit killed Lubricus?” asked Severus. “Is that what started this all off?”  
Harry picked up Lubricus’ investigation book and flipped through the pages   
“Let’s map this out,” Harry scribbled away frantically for 10 minutes and then handed Severus a piece of paper.   
“What’s this?” asked Severus.   
“A timeline of events. “

Timeline of events  
Lubricus called in by Berlin University to investigate embezzlement   
Lubricus is retained by Leon Suche to find his father.  
July   
Lubricus interviews Berlin university professors  
Trank purchases his third Grindelwald commander wand from the Magical Taberna and talks to Mrs Schmit.  
August  
Lubricus goes to Munich to interview Schmit: could be connected with Trank or the missing persons case. Meets Mrs Schmit.  
Lubricus goes to Cayman Islands.   
30 August Lubricus goes to Munich might have interview Schmit again?  
31 August Lubricus has an appointment with Trank.  
2 September Lubricus is found dead in warehouse.  
Schmit puts his mother in a care home  
Trank visits Magical Taberna and looks at French wand  
Aurors called into the Lubricus murder case  
H&S visit university Berlin interview professors.   
Discovery of Lubricus investigation notebook  
Gottingen aurors make discreet inquiries about Schmit’s shop the Magical Taberna.  
Discovery of Trank’s body. 

Severus studied the timeline carefully   
“This is a useful device. Either the first or second interview with Schmit might not have been about the embezzlement. “  
Harry nodded. “Exactly it could be linked to the missing father. He thought Trank had ratted him out to Lubricus to get the heat off himself over the embezzlement. He thought he was about to be revealed to the world as Hans Weber/aka Cheatah the war criminial.“  
“That’s why he put the body in Trank’s apartment, “ said Severus   
“As a warning,” agreed Harry. “Trank must have been really confused. “  
“Trank panicked and planted the body on the Death Eater he recognised. “  
“Unfortunate, that you chose that evening to make your first visit to the wand society.”  
Severus nodded, “Extremely bad timing”.  
“Then when our desk based investigators, started to put out feelers about the shop, Schmit must have thought Trank had done it again.”  
“And Schmit killed him,” agreed Severus.  
“Of course this assumes Schmit knew about the embezzlement.”  
“I expect he was lying when he claimed he didn’t,”said Severus thoughtfully. “A man like that enjoys the power of knowing everyone’s secrets. It helped him protect himself.” Severus paused. “Infact, I would guess he was blackmailing Trank. That would explain the monthly payments for that pathetic magazine.”  
“The backmail would also explain why Trank creamed off more money from the university this year than in precious years, “ observed Harry   
“Schimt would also have believed that it gave Trank another reason to reveal his, (Schmit’s) true identity,” pointed out Severus.   
“So Schmit could have been right. Trank could have told Lubricus about his true identity?”  
“Possibly,” concluded Severus. “Either Trank tipped Lubricus off or Lubricus worked it out for himself while he was searching for Leon Suche’s missing father. We’ll never know.”  
I would have liked to have brought someone to justice, “ said Harry wistfully.   
Severus nodded. “The trial would have involved lot of paper work.”  
Harry shuddered. “Even so I am amazed he killed himself rather than going to Mexico. It was sheer dumb luck we found that farm house so quickly and why did he construct those wards to protect the room?”  
Severus shrugged, “Didn’t want to be found until it was too late to save him?”  
Harry nodded uneasily, “You don’t think it could be anyone else?”  
“Like whom?” inquired Severus.  
Harry said nothing just stared back at him uncomfortably.  
Severus pursed his lips, “The mother?”  
Harry nodded miserably, “It would explain his confession, why he had the tickets to Mexico and the wards. Nobody was meant to find him until it was too late. She did it to protect herself. ”  
“Didn’t want the publicity attached to being the mother of a war criminal, angry at being shut away?” Severus said thoughtfully. “Not sure whether that would be enough to make her kill her own son,” he added.  
“What if it was more than that?” whispered Harry.   
Severus eyes widened, “She was the murderer?”  
Harry nodded, “At least of Lubricus. Look again at the timeline.”  
Severus peered down at the sheet.

Timeline of events  
Lubricus called in by Berlin University to investigate embezzlement   
Lubricus is retained by Leon Suche to find his father.  
July   
Lubricus interviews Berlin university professors  
Trank purchases his third Grindelwald commander wand from the Magical Taberna and talks to Mrs Schmit.  
August  
Lubricus goes to Munich to interview Schmit: could be connected with Trank or the missing persons case. Meets Mrs Schmit.  
Lubricus goes to Cayman Islands.   
30 August Lubricus goes to Munich might have interview Schmit again?  
31 August Lubricus has an appointment with Trank.  
2 September Lubricus is found dead in warehouse.  
Schmit puts his mother in a care home  
Trank visits Magical Taberna and looks at French wand  
Aurors called into the Lubricus murder case  
H&S visit university Berlin interview professors.   
Discovery of Lubricus investigation notebook  
Gottingen aurors make discreet inquiries about Schmit’s shop the Magical Taberna.  
Discovery of Trank’s body. 

Severus raised his eyes, “That’s why he put her in the care home. She killed Lubricus.”  
“Maybe, “ said Harry.   
“It is an interesting theory,” agreed Severus.   
“Plausible?”inquired Harry.   
Severus paused then nodded, “Worth investigating.”   
“What shall I do? Put it in my report or tell Peck.”  
“Neither, “ said Severus. “It is pure speculation at the moment. I suggest you do a little digging first.”  
Harry thought, “I could see if Mrs Schmit left the care home after we visited yesterday.”  
Severus nodded, “Of course, if she is the perptartor she is very skillful and they may not have detected her absence. “  
Harry nodded. “Visit in person or firecall?”  
“Firecall,” said Severus decisively. “Talk to that receptionist. “  
“Helga?”  
“Yes Helga, call her on the pretext of passing on your condolences to Mrs Schmit.”  
“And sort of ease into asking if Mrs Schmit has been AWOL?”  
“Exactly. It will be an exercise in subtly.”

Harry decided to leave the firecall until the next morning. When Severus returned from his hunt for fresh bread, milk and pastries, Harry was feverishly scribbling away.   
“You managed to reach the care home?” inquired Severus.   
Harry sat back and nodded, “Helga had just clocked on.”  
“And?”   
“Mrs Schmit went walk about in the late afternoon after our last visit. She went in the garden and disappeared for a couple of hours. When she missed Kaffe and Kunchen they started looking for her. She turned up in time for dinner, claimed she had been lost in the woods.”  
“Suspicious. “  
“That’s what Peck said. I firecalled him after I had spoken to Helga suggesting you and I went and interviewed her.”  
Severus’ heart sank. “Did he agree?”  
Harry shook his head. “He told me I had done my bit and to put it in my report. He would then decide whether any further action was needed.”  
“Good advice, “said Severus.  
“I know, “agreed Harry with a smile. “But I like to see things through.”  
Severus nodded sympathetically.  
“You are a professional now, not an amateur on a crusade. You need to recognise when to let things lie.”  
Harry nodded again. “You are safe that is the main thing.”  
“And for that, I am extremely grateful, “said Severus.

For their last evening, Severus had cooked a traditional German meal including strudel for pudding. He had rejected Harry’s call for a last take away.   
After dinner, Harry had packed his bag mournfully, but had cheered up when Severus had reminded him that Ron would be arriving back at the Ministry at the same time.   
“At least l can stick him and Hermione for loads of babysitting, “said Harry cheering up.   
“You had better provide lots of snacks, “said Severus. At least with Harry’s departure, he would not need to polyjuice himself into Weasley again. 

This time Severus had no need transform into a moth to see Harry onto the train back to the UK. He travelled openly in his usual disguise  
The platform was quiet. There was only one other couple. Harry put his bags down next to an empty bench and Severus shrugged off his cloak in deference to the heat of the day.  
“Work hard and pass your final exams before the baby arrives, “advised Severus.   
Harry nodded. “Finals are in May. Baby is due in June. Weasley family babies don’t tend to be early thank goodness.”  
“Will the Ministry give you some time off?”  
“A couple of weeks I think,” said Harry.   
“Mr Potter, “said a soft voice behind them.   
Severus swung round. Peck was walking down the platform towards them.  
“Hi, is something wrong?” asked Harry anxiously.  
“No, no Harry, I just wanted to come and see you off and thank you again for all you have done. It has been a tough secondment but you and Ron have got us out of tight spot. Where is Mr Weasely by the way? “  
“He’s already on his way back to London, “said Harry truthfully.   
The head auror turned to Severus and held out his hand. Aren’t you going to introduce me Harry?”  
“Ah, yes of course. This is a friend of mine Sebastian Damasco, Sebastian this is my boss Mr Peck, head of the Gottingen aurors.”  
“How nice to be formally introduced at last, “said Peck.  
Severus resisted narrowing his eyes and smiled politely. He didn’t like the look in Peck’s eyes. A gentle probe suggested he was an effective occlumens.   
“Ah, here it is,” said Severus disguising his relief as the train pulled into the station. “Jump on Harry I will lift your case up. “  
Peck stepped back to allow them a private goodbye.   
Harry looked uneasy.   
“Go Harry,” whispered Severus. “I can handle this”  
Harry gave a brief nod and then raised his hand to his former boss.  
“Goodbye Sir, “  
“See you again Harry, I look forward to your next secondment. You will always be welcome here.”  
“Take care Harry and thank for your help, “mouthed Severus looking deep into Harry’s eyes. Severus was eternally grateful for his skill as a Legilimens and could sense Harry projecting, “Goodbye dad, see you soon.”  
Severus squeezed his shoulder. He watched until the train was fully out of the station and he could no longer see the window of Harry’s carriage. He turned slowly round. As he expected Peck was waiting patiently by the bench, starring down at his cloak. Has he searched it? wondered Severus.  
Peck turned and picked up the cloak and gestured to Severus to take it.  
“A nice cloak,” observed Peck as Severus reached out for it.   
“Thank you, “said Severus swinging it over his shoulder.   
“I particularly liked the buttons. Spelled against loss I assume.”  
“A strong unravelling spell certainly, “agreed Severus.   
“Anti-fade?”  
“Indeed, “agreed Severus.  
“Fire proof? “asked Peck innocently.  
“Flame retardant,” said Severus reluctantly.  
“I thought they might be, “said Peck.   
Severus nodded and moved towards the station exit. Peck fell in step beside him.   
“I am sorry to see young Harry go. He has been a great help. Do you know him well?”  
“We met during the war, “said Severus shortly, an answer that usually led people to cease questioning out of politeness.   
“I imagine he met many interesting people.”  
Severus nodded pausing at the exit to the station. “A great number.”  
“Yes, I was surprised but delighted when he applied to come here on secondment during his training, so many interesting places he could have gone.”  
Severus nodded, “I am sure.”  
“Yes very surprised. He suffered a great personal tragedy here. I was surprised he wanted to return, Rekindle old memories and everything. “  
Severus remained silent.   
“Do you know Mr Weasley?”  
“We’ve met,”admitted Severus.   
“Yes me also. At least I think so. He’s on secondment in Vienna, but supposedly came to help us out for a while.”  
“Ah, ah,” said Severus non committedly.  
“Yes, the only thing is my cousin Phil, works in Vienna and apparently Ron hasn’t left since he arrived a week ago. A clever chap to be in two places at once. Very efficient. Must find the spell for that. “  
“Indeed, “said Severus uneasily.   
“Well, I must head back to the station.” Peck stretched out his hand. Severus took it. “Good to meet you at last and thank you for looking after Harry while he was here. I hope we meet again sometime.” With that, Peck nodded and headed across the road.   
Severus remained by the station exit looking out across Gottingen. As he watched the traffic flow into central Gottingen he was aware of unfamiliar feeling. Happiness? he wondered. No it was more than that. He felt safe. For the first time in his life he felt safe. He was safe and he he had found a home.


End file.
